Wait for Me: Aku no Yami
by Fire and Sand
Summary: Sakura’s sanity is slipping. As she comes to Tanzaku Gai, her mind is reeling in illogical thoughts and memories. Dreams of vengeance and the decision to go to Orochimaru finally surface, and neither Lee nor Kakashi can stop her from her inescapable fate
1. Prologue: Nightmares are Real

Fire: This is the prologue of _Wait for Me: Aku no Yami_! (throws cup ramen to the audience) Aku no Yami, otherwise known as Become Empty of Darkness or Evil Darkness depending on the kanji for Aku that you're using. And I am using the "yami" kanji for darkness so don't pester me about that. (hugs Kisame) I love double connotations! There's no way to know what will happen to Sakura! (releases Kisame and grabs more cup ramen) Have more ramen! (throws more cup ramen to the audience)

Naruto: No! Don't throw away my ramen!

Fire: I bought a whole case of them so here! (throws a giant box marked ramen to Naruto)

Naruto: Okay, then I don't care. (runs away to find some hot water)

Fire: Anyway, this is a sidestory concerning what happened to Sakura during her month of wandering. This story takes place between the first (Leaving) and second (Following) books of the Wait for Me series. In case anyone thought Sakura was OOC, since I know it came as a big shock to everyone when she was so different from the way she was in the first book. So here! Read this and find out how she became the person she was! And read the prologue! It's important!

Sasuke: And… (squints at the script) I'm not reading this!

Fire: Read it!

Sasuke: (sighs) And this story stands on its own, like all the other stories written by Fire. Uggh…I don't want to read this. (throws the script at Kisame)

Kisame: Um… (looks at Fire glaring at Sasuke) This means you can read this, even if you didn't read the other books in the series. If you just want to enjoy torturing Sakura, read this. (turns to Fire) Hey! I want to torture her too! (mumbles to self) Samehada's complaining about being hungry again.

Fire: No! You're already dead at this point in the series! (turns to the audience again) If you're wondering about anything, all the stories in this series start with "Wait for Me" followed by a colon and the name of the story. If you're too lazy to search for them, just go to my profile.

Sasuke: Stop advertising.

Naruto: (shouting from the background) Sasuke! Do you know where the chopsticks are!

Sasuke: (sighs and walks to get chopsticks for Naruto) …

Fire: Well, here's the prologue. Don't blame me if it ends on a cliffhanger. This story goes right into the second book. (pulls the prologue onto the window)

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Disclaimer: I am not Masashi-sensei, so I don't own Naruto. But for those who have read my other disclaimers, you would know that I _do_ own Naruto stocks! What's ironic is that the stocks are still good! The popularity's not really dropping after being dubbed so horribly. :( I just hope that they improve like with Inuyasha.

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Warning: All Japanese terms were used for artistic purposes. If you have no idea what I'm saying, go to my profile. There's a glossary of every term I use as well as terms you're likely to run into while reading fanfics.

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**Wait for Me: Aku no Yami**

**A Fire Project**

**Prologue: Nightmares are Real**

_**S**akura's hands rose from the pools of blood spreading from Naruto's body. It was already cooling. The blond shinobi was already dead. 'What's wrong!' Her mind couldn't find an answer to her question. 'What happened!' She couldn't understand what it was. She couldn't understand why it didn't work. Shosen Jutsu should have been enough. With his jinchuuriki powers, it should have been enough to heal him!_

"_Naruto!" She shouted as she grabbed the blond from the muddy ground, her hands digging into his wet orange jacket. The rain fell relentlessly, hiding her tear-streaked face from the grey-haired jounin at her side. "Naruto! Don't joke around!" _

_But the boy couldn't hear her._

"_Naruto!"_

_He was dead._

"Naruto!" Sakura sat up, her body soaked with sweat. That dream had continued to haunt her since that day. It was only two days ago, but the memories were still vivid, as if it was only an hour ago. Her hands were still sticky with blood.

The pink-haired kunoichi walked to the bathroom across the hall, her clean hands wetting beneath the warm tap water. With a brush, she scrubbed until the feeling of blood was gone, her skin red from repeated washing. _'It's only a nightmare,'_ she reminded herself. When she was younger, her parents had always said that to her. _'It's only a nightmare,'_ she repeated to herself as she dragged her body back to her room, her eyes falling onto the dark clothing that peered furtively from the hamper of used clothes. She had worn them for the funeral a few days ago and they still hadn't been washed. _'It's only a nightmare.'_ Her body arrived in front of the plain clothing, her fingers feeling the dark fabric in the night. _'Except it's real.'_

Sakura backed away, a feeling of foolishness filling her body as her legs collided with the bed behind her and she sat suddenly. The promise she had made at the cenotaph to Naruto and Sasuke the day before was as bright as her memories of their deaths. _'I am an avenger.'_ She shook her head. No. That was Sasuke talking. That wasn't her! _'Sasuke... Naruto... I promise...'_ She didn't know what she was promising.

The pink-haired girl reached across the short expanse of her room to the picture frame staring at her atop the desk. The three familiar faces surrounding her own happy face looked back at her and suddenly, she realized that she was angry. She was angry with herself for not being strong enough to save them. She was angry at herself for not being strong enough to preserve their happiness. Even through the heavy sadness, she could feel that anger.

'_I promise...'_ What was she promising? _'I won't do this again.'_ She had realized that she wasn't strong enough to protect them. If there was another team, she still wouldn't be able to protect them. _'I won't disappoint anyone again.'_ That meant...

Sakura walked to her desk, her hands reaching for a pen and paper.

...she couldn't be a shinobi again. Without Sasuke and Naruto, she could never be a shinobi again.

**End Prologue**

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Fire's babbling:

Fire: That was the prologue! If you're interested, go to the first chapter. If you're not interested, close the window. As usual, English tidbits begin in the first chapter. Leave a review to give me feedback. I want to know what you think. Flame me if you have flames. Don't hold it in. It's bad for the body.

Sasuke: If you give us a signed flame, we'll read your stories.

Fire: Yes. I want to hear everything, especially if it's bad. I want to improve and the only way to improve is by listening to what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong. So be honest!

Kisame: Is that all? If it is, I'm going to… (looks at Sasuke while clutching Samehada)

Fire: Don't kill my cowriter.

Kisame: I have to feed him something. He's chewing through the bandages!

Fire: Um… (looks around) Here! (holds out Lee)

Kisame: - -;; He has no chakra.

Fire: Um… (looks around) Here! (holds out a frog)

Kisame: You're not trying, are you?

Naruto: No! That's Gama-chan! (grabs his wallet)

Fire: Well, ja! We're going to search for some food for Samehada. (turns and walks out the window)

Kisame: You know that we'll kill whoever we feed to Samehada?

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	2. One: Running Away

Fire: Chapter 1 and so many people came to read it! Yay! (throws kunai at the audience)

Naruto: Waah! (dodges a kunai) What are you doing!

Fire: You won't let me give away any more ramen, so I'm giving away kunai.

Sasuke: Hey! Those are mine! (grabs his kunai back) Throw these to them! (hands a bag to Fire)

Fire: (looks into the bag) These are cards? (looks at a card) Yamanaka Ino. Birthday: September 23th. Fifteen-years-old. Libra. Blood type: B. Enjoys star gazing. Phone number…

Naruto: Why would Fire throw your fangirls' numbers to the readers!

Fire: Hmm…Sakura's card is in here too. (holds up Sakura's card)

Naruto: Give me that! (grabs the card from Fire)

Fire: Well, since Kakashi's on vacation, I have Kisame holding the Big Bag of Reviews. (turns to Kisame) Kisame, any reviews for me?

Kisame: I'm not doing this.

Fire: Kisame!

Kisame: I said I'm not doing this.

Fire: At least give the bag to someone who _will_ do it!

Kisame: (hands the Big Bag of Reviews to Gai) …

Gai: Yes! I will defeat Kakashi at—

Fire: Just give me a review.

Gai: Yosh! (hands a review to Fire)

Fire: (mumbles) At least he's more enthusiastic than Kakashi.

Gai: Yes! Another win!

Fire: Gai, this is blank!

Gai: There are no reviews. This is the first chapter.

Fire: (sighs) What a baka!

Sasuke: Too much stupidity. I'm going through these resumes for a new guardian for the Bag of Reviews. (pulls out a big stack of resumes)

Fire: Well, while we're trying to find a replacement, read the first chapter. (throws chapter 1 onto the window)

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Disclaimer: Can I buy Masashi-sensei? If I did, then I would own Naruto, right? Is that legal? Hmm… (thinks) Well, while I'm pondering that, I still don't really own Naruto. I'm not repeating this disclaimer so please don't confuse me with Masashi-sensei in anyway. That would be too weird.

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Warning: I'm torturing Sakura in this fic. It may contain insanity, starvation, pain, blood, fatigue and other negative experiences. Don't read this if you can't take reality. (Fire runs up to Sasuke) Don't write my warnings for me!

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**Chapter 1: Running Away**

**G**rey light covered the road stretching out in front of the pink-haired girl. Starting today, she wasn't a shinobi anymore. She had decided, and there was no turning back. The hitai-ate on her head was already gone.

Foggy eyes turned to the tall gates one last time before her legs pulled her forwards. _'Sayonara, Konoha.'_ She would probably never see it again.

Sakura never had any other intention. When she wrote the letter, she really had meant that she would never be a kunoichi again. And she had meant a kunoichi of any kind. She wasn't going to go to another shinobi village or become a strange nukenin in a faraway country. She was just going to settle down somewhere and live a normal life.

Somewhere far from Konoha.

Even though her mind pressed for vengeance, she didn't have it in herself to really kill anyone. _'I am an avenger.'_ That voice held no power over her. That was only the voice of desire. Even if she wanted to avenge their deaths, there was really nothing she could do about it. She would never be able to bring them back. She could never really avenge them. The promise she had made was empty.

That was why she couldn't stay.

She knew everyone would be angry. She was running away from home. But she couldn't stay in a place saturated with memories. Those memories were something she wanted to forget.

That was why she had to leave. She couldn't stay and wonder if Sasuke was going to walk around the next corner or if Naruto was going to pop out and ask if she would eat ramen with him. Those two empty spaces continually blazed loneliness into her tired eyes. She could barely see the road, but that was okay. By the end of the day, she was already at Otafuku Gai.

She had no intention of staying. It was only a short stop for the night before she continued on. She was still too close to Konoha and there must be shinobi searching for her. But she couldn't go any further than this town for now, even if it was obvious that she would be here. Otafuku Gai was the closest town to Konoha and Sakura hadn't brought anything except the photograph folded in her pocket and the clothes clinging to her skin.

She needed supplies if she was going to get any further away, but she didn't have a lot of money either. It looked as if she would have to use some of those survival skills for awhile. No one was going to hire a fifteen-year-old runaway. And she certainly couldn't tell anyone that she used to be a Konoha-nin. There will definitely be people coming through with questions. She wasn't going to make it that easy for them.

"Let's see." Sakura looked around. She couldn't see any place that would be useful. And she didn't see anyone who could be useful either.

As her eyes refused to focus on anything of use, the girl turned from the open stores and busy street. There was nothing for her here, just like there was nothing for her in Konoha. She didn't have to wait to see that this wasn't the place for her.

Vivid memories filled her mind as she stumbled through the street. She couldn't forget them. It was only three days ago that she was talking with Naruto. It was only a week ago that she was looking at Sasuke. She didn't know what had happened. It was all so fast.

They were dead now.

'_Money,'_ she thought as she pulled out her wallet. There wasn't a lot in there. It was going to have to be either shelter or food.

And Sakura's stomach grumbled.

'_I guess it's food,'_ she sighed as she stuffed her wallet into her pocket again. She couldn't just starve and it looked as if she wasn't going to have any proper meals for a while. _'Shannaro.'_ That meant she would have to sleep outside.

**K**onoha woke early the day Sakura left. Kakashi came home in the early morning with a headache. He had fallen asleep at the bar with a bottle of sake clutched tightly in his hand. The masked jounin couldn't really remember what had happened. All he could remember was Jiraiya grabbing him and pulling him away to help him "forget" about Naruto and Sasuke's deaths.

"Ugh..." the grey-haired shinobi groaned as he dropped onto his bed. His head was throbbing so intensely that he saw colours. There was nothing in his mind but pain. _'I need...' _His gloved hand reached over his head for the small row of orange books squished between bookshelves. He needed something to help take his mind off the throbbing pain in his head. _'What's this?'_ His fingers crumpled around cool metal and cloth.

In the dim light of early morning, Kakashi's uncovered eye gazed at the hitai-ate in his hand, and for a moment, his mind wandered into realms of fantasy, refusing to come to a logical conclusion about this unexpected find. It certainly wasn't _his_ hitai-ate. But the paper clue pressed against the back of that accessory drew itself to his attention soon enough.

'_Oh...'_ His mind finally wrapped itself around reality as he saw his name followed by sensei. _'It's a letter from Sakura.'_ With both Naruto and Sasuke gone, there was only one person left who would call him Hatake Kakashi-sensei in this manner. All the other shinobi would never call him Hatake Kakashi-sensei in a letter like this. He would be Hatake Kakashi-san, or sama...or something along that line but never sensei. _'What does she...'_

The grey-haired jounin sat up quickly as the rest of the letter revealed itself. "Nani!" The words stood out in bold even though it was written with her plain handwriting. _'Can't be a kunoichi? Were? Feel honoured? Don't worry about her?'_ Kakashi threw the hitai-ate to his bed as he ran into the street, his hand clutching the note tightly. "All in past tense...Sakura..." His fears rose in his chest, suffocating him as he knocked loudly on the door of the Haruno household. She couldn't be gone. "Haruno-san!" He had only seen her a few days ago. She was okay. He would just ask if she was okay. The note had to be a joke. It had to be!

The lights were already on in the early morning but it was an eternity before the door opened. "Kakashi-san?" The man was out of breath.

"Sakura! Is Sakura here?" His gaze was frantic as it looked from the man to the woman who ran in worried circles behind him... "Sakura! Is she still sleeping?" ...with bunshin running around in circles around more bunshin.

"We...um..." The man breathed deeply, weariness marking his face. "Sakura..." He didn't know how to tell Kakashi that he hadn't seen her since the night before. "She should be home soo–"

"Kuso!" Kakashi ran past the tired man, his footsteps still wobbling from the influence of a night's drinking. His gloved hand clutched the banister tightly as he climbed up, ready to catch himself if he slipped and fell. "Sakura...please be there." Grief did a lot of things to a person's mind, but he hoped leaving wasn't one of them. She had to be in her room, sleeping. As irrationally cruel as it was, her father had to be kidding.

"Kakashi-san..." Sakura's mother finally spoke as Kakashi pushed the door to Sakura's room open. Her voice was filled with fatigue. "Actually..."

"Sakura!" Kakashi ran to the bed. But it was empty. As he turned around in the small room, he could see it clearly. She was gone. She was really gone.

"...we haven't seen her since yesterday."

**End Chapter 1**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Vocabulary! I want to do something simple for the first tidbit of my first sidestory so here it is. "&" is called an ampersand. Yay! This was short but expect to see longer tidbits next time.

More English unless you're tired of this and want to close the window:

Okay. I thought it was weird to write such a short tidbit. It has been awhile since I wrote extra ones. So, here it is! Have some grammar! "You" should be avoided as an indefinite pronoun, which means "you" shouldn't be used to refer to members or parts of a category without saying what particular member or part you're talking about. It's only correct in colloquial English, not in written English. In written English, it is preferable to substitute indefinite pronouns with _one, anyone, everyone, a person_ or for plural _people_ or _those (who)_ instead, or rewrite the sentence so indefinite pronouns are not necessary. For example, "Sakura wanted Sasuke back. You would too if you had loved him for over ten years," could be rewritten with an indefinite pronoun substitution as "Sakura wanted Sasuke back. Anyone who had loved him for over ten years would have felt the same way." Another example is, "Sasuke didn't want to be back. If you were with the one you loved, it didn't matter if you were dead or alive," could be rewritten without the definite pronouns as, "Sasuke didn't want to be back. If he was with the one he loved, it didn't matter if he was dead or alive."

Fire's babbling:

Sasuke: I thought you were going to make the tidbits short for this chapter! Look at that! (points angrily at the second tidbit) You actually made it longer!

Fire: Waah! (cowers) I didn't mean it!

Kisame: I don't get it.

Fire: It doesn't matter if you don't get it. What matters is if the readers get it or not!

Kisame: If I don't get it, the readers don't get it.

Fire: In that case, send me a review about it. I'll explain anything you're confused about. Just don't use "you" for general statements. That's what I meant!

Naruto: I don't get it.

Fire: (sighs) Anything you have to say about the actual story?

Sakura: I hate this.

Fire: You don't have a lot of money. Get used to it.

Sasuke: (smirks) I'm okay with it.

Naruto: Don't be so mean to Sakura-chan!

Fire: Address all your complaints to Sasuke.

Kisame: I want to kill him.

Fire: Um…I already said don't kill my cowriter.

Sasuke: Send us your thoughts. We want to hear anything you have to say.

Fire: I promise to reply to every review. I'll do it! Even if it takes a week, I'll do it!

Sasuke: Don't beg for reviews.

Fire: I want to hear what you think! (yells frantically) Send me any feedback you have! I know you have thoughts on this story, even if it's short, or super long. I've had reviews that are one word long! I've had really, really long reviews. I love all of them! Just send them in!

Kisame: Okay… (smacks Fire with Samehada)

Fire: XP

Sasuke: Fire's going to be angry when—

Kisame: Daijoubu. Fire has no chakra. Samehada didn't kill—

Sasuke: Don't interrupt me!

Kisame: Don't interrupt _me!_

Naruto: I'm leaving. You don't need me here.

Sakura: Money! I need to find a job! (runs away)

Sasuke: I said don't interrupt m—

Kisame: I don't hear you.

Sasuke: I said—

Kisame: I really don't hear you.

Sasuke: (angry) I—

Kisame: Are you trying to say something?

Sasuke: (turns angrily away from Kisame) Send us your reviews and close the window. Do you want to listen to his teme any further?

Kisame: You just want them to stop seeing you lose to me. (grins)

Fire: (wakes up) Kisame! (grabs Samehada) Don't—

Samehada: (hisses angrily) Hiss!

Kisame: Don't touch my sword!

Fire: (lets go of Samehada quickly) Um…I forgot. Gomen. (turns to the audience) Ja ne! I need to go before Samehada kills me! (runs)

Kisame: (sighs) Now Samehada's angry. (turns from the window) I need chakra. Lots of chakra.

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	3. Two: Close Calls

Fire: Welcome back to Aku no Yami. Yay! (throws ads to the audience)

Sasuke: Are you stupid! Don't throw ads to the audience!

Naruto: (catches an ad) Aku no Yami—brought to you by the Akatsuki Organization. Admissions are limited so sign up today!

Sasuke: O.o

Kisame: Nani! When did the leader take up an ad!

Naruto: (catches another Ad) Aku no Yami—brought to you by Juin Jutsu. Try it today for free and become Orochimaru-sama's slave!

Sasuke: Stop reading those! You'll get brainwashed! Who would want a cursed seal!

Fire: Sasuke, who are we interviewing today?

Sasuke: (closed the ad window and pulls out a resume) Hmm…Mitarashi Anko.

Anko: (walks into the window with kushi-dango in her hand) Hi!

Fire: You're late.

Sasuke: You have the bag, right?

Anko: Bag?

Fire: Don't tell me you—

Anko: You mean this bag? (holds up the Big Bag of Reviews) I didn't know it's this heavy! And there aren't even that many reviews in here! I quit! (throws the bag at Sasuke and walks out the window)

Fire: (sighs) Well, give me the reviews, Sasuke.

Sasuke: (sighs as he hands Fire a window) …

Fire: Reviews, yay! Um…one vote for each person. I guess you can vote once per chapter. (scratches head) And the votes for Sasori isn't even supposed to come in for this story. I wonder how this got here. Anyway, _one_ vote per person, per chapter!

Naruto: That's unfair! What about the people who come in later?

Fire: But the readers might change their minds!

Sasori: Three votes for me. (smiles at Sakura)

Sakura: No! (pulls on her hair) No! Kami-sama, no!

Fire: Um… Sasori's still dead at this point in the series. If you want to read about SasoSaku, you'll have to go to the third book, _Wait for Me: Searching._ If I decide on a sequel, there will be more SasoSaku.

Sasuke: That means this sidestory will focus mostly on KakaSaku.

Sakura: I don't know if that's even better!

Fire: And I want to warn you now that there's going to be slight NejiSaku and LeeSaku, mostly onesided. The main pairings for this series is SasuNaru, onesided SakuSasu and KakaSaku, so don't complain about the pairings. Those are set and I'm not changing them no matter what. All others are additional because I feel like it or because it turned out that way in the storyline.

Sasuke: Is that enough?

Fire: Yes. Here's the second chapter! (pulls up chapter 2)

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**Chapter 2: Close Calls**

**K**akashi burst into the Hokage office that morning, the morning of the day he found the note, and the day everyone realized that Sakura wasn't just sulking. She had run away. She wasn't even in the village anymore. "Hokage-sama!" Kakashi slammed his hands onto the desk, waking the blond woman with a start. She had spent another long night going over important documents, and had fallen asleep at her desk _again_.

"Hmm...?" She looked at the masked man with sleep-filled eyes, wiping her ink-marked face with the back of her hand. "Kakashi?" She straightened a little more before asking her next question. "What are you–"

"Sakura's gone!" He held out the frantic note for her to see. "We have to send a team after her!" While the trail was still warm!

Tsunade took the piece of paper from his hand, her brown eyes falling onto the short paragraph of words. "Are you sure this isn't a joke?" Someone could be playing a horrible joke on Kakashi. She had heard nothing from Sakura's parents about her being missing and the Keimu Butai had no word of a missing person.

"She has been missing since last night," Kakashi said as he pointed urgently to the words. "This is Sakura's handwriting!"

"The sentinels haven't seen anyone leaving Konoha," the woman said, reluctant to believe a man who smelled so strongly of sake.

"No!" He grabbed the letter from the woman's hands. "Listen!" He waved the letter at Tsunade. "Can't you hear me! She's gone! She's not at home! Her room's empty! Sakura's gone! Her parents can't find her!"

Tsunade blinked several times before her senses jumped out of bed and grabbed the letter from the man's hands again. She had thought that he was playing a trick on himself. With his sharingan, he could have written it to himself in his drunkenness and not known it. The sharingan could copy another's handwriting easily. And she just didn't want to believe that Sakura would run away. "Kuso." The light sound of profanity sighed into the air before Tsunade called for Raidou. She believed him now. Even if he was just playing a prank on himself, she couldn't let the possibility of it being real slip away from her. Sakura was really missing. They needed to get her before her trail grew cold. "Emergency meeting! Call all the jounin! Assemble them immediately!" And even if she wasn't missing, it didn't hurt to have this extra precaution.

"Hokage-sama, I–"

"Denied." Tsunade knew what Kakashi was going to say before he said it. "You can't be on this team." It was too soon.

The masked jounin looked down, his uncovered eye fixed on the ground. "I understand," but he had to try. She was his student, and he was her sensei. He was responsible for her. He was worried about her.

And that was the problem. If he wasn't her sensei, Tsunade could have allowed him to go, but then, he wouldn't want to go this badly. He had said it to himself when he ran into Sakura's room. Grief made people do unpredictable things. Losing Sasuke and Naruto was enough. Now he was losing Sakura too. Even he didn't know what he would do.

"Good. Then you wouldn't mind taking some of these missions," Tsunade said as she handed a C-ranked mission to the man. It wasn't much, but it was simple enough to take his mind off the current situation and to occupy his time, and it was difficult enough so that it wasn't insulting his reputation as a great shinobi.

"Yes," Kakashi said as he looked at the forms. It wasn't anything difficult, but the woman had noticed. Jiraiya had probably asked her to help him "forget." Now, the woman was probably doing it to help him forget about Sakura too. He didn't know if he should be grateful or not.

**S**akura looked around, her hand moving to make sure the summoning scroll was still there. She had spent most of her money on food, so she couldn't lose it. But even with the kunai pouch securely closed, she kept thinking that it had fallen out. She was running around so much that she kept thinking about it.

They were here sooner than she had thought.

The shinobi from Konoha were already in Otafuku Gai. She had seen them walking past her, a hair away but still unseen. However, she was only lucky then. She wasn't likely to be so lucky again.

Her eyes caught onto the unmistakable green outfit of a familiar Konoha chuunin, her ears ringing with the voice of his female teammate. Lee and Tenten were there, and that meant Hyuuga Neji with his inescapable byakugan was there as well.

She should leave as soon as possible.

Sakura released her hand from the beige kunai pouch and backed into the crowd. It seemed as if the team had just arrived recently. If she wasn't careful, he could really activate those pale eyes and find her.

'_It's good that I'm leaving today,'_ the pink-haired girl thought as she turned and walked away. Any longer and this place would be saturated with shinobi.

"Ossan," Sakura said as she looked up from her inner thoughts. Her fingers had folded over a green cloak, perfect for camouflage in the forests of Hi no Kuni. "I would like to buy this cloak." She had just enough with the money left over.

Sakura didn't wait for the man to take the cloak from its hook. It was rare to find mass-produced clothing. Tailors usually waited for the customer's measurements. The cloak was only supposed to be for display, so that people knew the quality of his work.

"Ojousan, isn't the cloak too big for you? I'll adjust the size first." His offer was spoken in a very polite manner. He didn't refuse even though she was taking something so important. Displays were always of a finer quality than the actually clothing as a rule, since it was supposed to attract business. Sakura was grateful to have found such a nice person. He even offered to adjust it.

But Sakura had to refuse. "Gomen nasai. I'm in a hurry." She couldn't stay any longer than what was absolutely necessary. "Arigatou gozaimasu."

There were no gates in this town, just streets stretching in every direction until they reached rows of unending trees and since Sakura wasn't familiar with the town, she didn't even know which direction was what. As soon as she came to the trees, she didn't know where she was headed anymore. She could be going toward Suna no Sato or Cha no Kuni, but she didn't care as long as she wasn't heading back toward Konoha.

The pink-haired girl pulled the hood over her hair as a frantic man in a green-clad outfit ran past her. It was amazing that even Gai didn't see her, but Sakura really didn't know if she should be happy about it or not. Even though she was the object of their search, the man leading the search party still couldn't see her.

She had truly stepped out of their world and was now beyond their reach.

**L**ee paced in worried circles. No matter how many times he repeated in his head that Gai-sensei would be there soon, he was still anxious. He had begged for this mission. He had thought that the Hokage would say no. After so many other shinobi were sent out to search for her, he had thought he wouldn't be able to go. And when he was finally accepted, his sensei was late. "Gai-sensei," he said frantically. "Where are you?"

"Lee!" Gai ran to the small congregation in the middle of the street. His pack was a little lighter from the last time they had seen him, but _they _weren't the ones who suggested he search the path leading from Konoha to Otafuku Gai. She obviously wouldn't be there. That was too close to Konoha and too easy to search. "Neji! Tenten! What did you see?" He had obviously slept in from exhaustion.

"Nothing. We were waiting for you," Neji said annoyedly. He had expected his sensei to be on time, even if he had slept in. Hanging around Kakashi too much could have had a negative effect on him.

"Lee woke up early and ran through all the streets three times, looking for Sakura," Tenten said, gesturing slightly at the green-clad chuunin. She was somewhat annoyed that he had dragged her with him.

"And?"

"No luck," Lee said with minor depression tinting his voice. She was only one day ahead. He had expected to find at least a small trace of her! "I'll run around the town three hundred times!" He couldn't back down from his punishment now.

"We don't have time for that," Neji said as he looked up, his byakugan looking out across the town into the wilderness. "She's still not here." He had already looked before, when Lee was running around and insisting that he wanted to be the first one to find her. _'I never wanted this mission in the first place.'_ He wished Lee didn't drag their team into his personal affairs.

"Then she has to be nearby!" Lee shouted. "It has only been two days since she went missing. It takes a day to get here. The trail is still warm. She has to be in the surrounding areas!" The boy bolted toward the outer stretches of the village, his feet exuding enthusiasm with every step.

"There are other teams on this search," Neji said, annoyed as he followed after Lee. For some reason, their sensei was silent, and it was irritating him. "Why does he have to be the one to find her?" He wished Gai-sensei would say something to calm down Lee.

"You just don't understand, Neji," Tenten said as she looked admiringly at Lee. "Your heart's like ice." She wished she had someone devoted to her like that. If she ran away, the only people looking for her would probably be Lee and Gai-sensei, and not even with the same kind of enthusiasm.

"Sakura-san!" Lee's shout drew the attention of his other team members. "A hair!" He held up a pink strand of hair, his voice brimming with excitement. He was close. He was _so_ close! "I found a hair!" Even over a single strand of hair, he was excited.

"The wind's strong. It could have blown from any direction," Neji said coldly. He wasn't excited at all. He expected this mission to end soon.

"These footprints are fresh." Lee's fingers grazed against the soft prints in the dirt. There was no mistaking it. "She's still nearby!"

"Good work, Lee!" Gai was watching and he knew how much his student wanted to find her. He couldn't bring down his morale. "Now to catch her!" He pointed to the thick spread of trees.

"Yosh! Gai-sensei!"

**S**akura's eyes trailed into the sky for a moment before turning to the trees again. It was just like being in Konoha, except the trees were slightly smaller and the branches from which she leapt were slightly thinner. But that was it. Except for the fact that she had no idea where she was headed, it was exactly like the forests around Konoha.

'_And I need to get away from here!'_ These places only darkened the world around her. She couldn't live in places that only filled her mind with unbearably heartbreaking memories. She just couldn't do it!

The pink-haired girl's feet dragged after awhile, her legs slowing with fatigue as the sun dropped beneath the horizon and darkness closed around her. Sakura slumped against the trunk of a tree, her legs folding onto the wide branch. Total darkness. She wouldn't be able to move on until the moon rose.

She closed her eyes and tried to remember what day it was. Early August. The moon was still waxing. It should rise soon. She could still travel this evening, get farther away from the search party. Even with the byakugan, they couldn't find her easily in the dark. The other three members of the team still couldn't see her in this light.

'_Hn.'_ The Sasuke apparition in her mind was annoyed. _'Can't you travel faster? You're slowing us down!'_

'_Sakura-chan's tired, Sasuke! We need to rest!'_

'_YOU need to rest. I can keep going.'_

Sakura smiled to herself, even as her breath shortened with weariness. Sasuke was already far ahead of them and Naruto was only complaining at her side, but it was enough to keep her going. She couldn't let them leave her behind. She couldn't let them catch her.

**End Chapter 2**

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Here is something that I didn't realize until I really looked at it. When I was in elementary school, I always thought that "a" came before words beginning with consonants and "an" came before words beginning with vowels, and I know that there are people out there who think the same way because I've seen it in fanfics. The truth is, that's not true. "A" comes before words beginning with consonant sounds, and "an" comes before words beginning with vowel sounds. So, it's an hour, a euphemism and a union.

Fire's babbling:

Fire: Didn't you say you were going to torture Sakura?

Sasuke: Just read it. I will.

Naruto: No! Don't hurt Sakura-chan!

Neji: Just let me catch her so I can leave.

Sasuke: Who's the leading male character here! Don't order me around!

Fire: You're dead in this part of the series.

Sasuke: I'm still the cowriter!

Fire: Well, send in your reviews. I want to hear what you think. Was this too short? Was it too long? I don't think I'll get any complaints about it being too long. I actually thought this was short too. But do you understand what's going on? I want to hear if you don't. Send in your reviews! Short, long, almost non-existent or twenty thousand page essays…I don't care! Just send them in!

Kisame: Just do it before Fire goes crazy.

Fire: Send in your flames! I don't care!

Sasuke: (straps Fire into a straitjacket) Well, time to get Fire to Hokage-sama. (looks at Fire) Or maybe Unohana-taichou.

Kisame: Yonbantai-taisa is too far.

Sasuke: Konoha Hospital it is! (pulls Fire away)

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	4. Three: Loss of Direction

Fire: I'm feeling generous today. Let's see. (looks around, trying to see if there's anything to give away)

Sasuke: Don't touch my things!

Fire: Here! (holds up Naruto to the audience)

Sasuke: That's mine! (grabs Naruto from Fire)

Naruto: O.O Nani?

Sasuke: Stop trying to give him away!

Fire: Okay…how about these? (hold up candid pictures of Sasuke)

Sakura: Those are mine! (grabs the pictures from Fire)

Naruto: (shouts at Sasuke) What do you mean "yours!" I'm not a thing!

Fire: Um…these? (holds up copies of Icha Icha Paradise)

Jiraiya: I'm holding the Big Bag of Reviews today. (smiles pervertedly)

Fire: Books for everyone! (throws copies of Icha Icha Paradise to the audience)

Kisame: (glares at Jiraiya) Stay away from Fire.

Jiraiya: Why? Jealous?

Kisame: (plain warning) Fire's crazy.

Jiraiya: …

Fire: (turns to Jiraiya) Hand me the reviews, Jiraiya!

Jiraiya: Crazy?

Kisame: If I say crazy, you should run. Remember who I am? I'm a bloodthirsty maniac who loves to kill and feeds my sword chakra. I talk to Samehada and still think Fire's crazy.

Jiraiya: (hands Fire a window) I don't think I want this job.

Fire: (waves the window at Kisame) Kisame! Don't scare away the applicants!

Kisame: It's the truth.

Jiraiya: I'll be researching for my next book. It's preferable to dragging around that heavy bag. (shunshins away)

Fire: (sighs) Another rejection. (looks at the window) Looks like everyone loves the insanity. You can't do anything about it, Sakura.

Sakura: No!

Fire: And that summarizes that reviews. Thank you to everyone who took the time to review, and those who don't, review when you have time.

Sasuke: A pause! (presses chapter three onto the window before Fire can say more)

---------------------------

Disclaimer: The verb "to shunshin" and all conjugations (ie. I shunshin, you shunshin, he/she/it shunshins, etc. as well as shunshin-ed and shunshin-ing) belong to Fire. If you want to use it, please send me a PM regarding the use of this verb. I'm willing to lend it to anyone who asks. Free of charge!

---------------------------

Disclaimer: The term "unwashable" is not a real word. Unwashable means something that won't fade regardless of the effort in scrubbing, burning, or washing. It's not the same as nonwashable. A synonym can be permanent, but I can't think of any other synonyms. Now you know why I used that nonexistent word.

---------------------------

Note: Yaah! I forgot the legend! Gomen nasai! I know it's late. TT TT

**Legend**

Regular text

"Speech"

'_Thoughts'_

_Flashbacks, hallucinations or dreams_

"_Speech during flashbacks"_

---------------------------

Important: I'll be updating twenty-four hours later than I usually do next Monday due to a holiday. It's my usual preference but for those who didn't know, you know now! Gomen nasai for any inconveniences this may cause.

---------------------------

**Chapter 3: Loss of Direction**

**V**isions of Sasuke and Naruto lingered in Sakura's mind long after she woke up. The sun was already high overhead and she was lying in a bed of green, half-covered in crushed leaves and half-covered in a water-heavy cloak the colour of leaves. At that time, confusion took hold of her, shaking loose all memory of her location. She had no idea where she was.

'_N-nani?'_ Her eyes squinted against the sun's bright light. She didn't recognize anything. These weren't the ancient trees that grew around Konoha. This wasn't the familiar ground beneath her body. This wasn't what her mind remembered before losing consciousness.

But that was expected. Slowly, she remembered that she had expected it. She was travelling in the dark. She hadn't seen anything since the sun set hours ago. "Sasuke-kun?" Sakura looked around, expecting to see them. "Naruto?" But she saw no one. "Kakashi-sensei?" She was alone.

It took another moment before she remembered that she was alone. She had left her life in Konoha. Sasuke was dead, Naruto died with him and Kakashi wasn't going to come for her. There were only the people chasing after her, and if she didn't get going, they would catch her.

But as Sakura nibbled on a small portion of food that she knew would have to last for awhile, her eyes turned to the sky and realized that it was already about three hours to noon. If she didn't hurry, she would lose all the distance she had gained the night before. She knew who was chasing her, and she knew that if she allowed it, Lee would definitely catch up to her.

'_Lee-san, gomen nasai. I can't let you catch me.'_ She just couldn't allow him to take her home, not when he didn't really want her back. If she asked, she knew he would deny it, but it was true. His body searched for her and his mind _wanted _to search for her, but all his actions were under Tsunade's command.

And even that was a lie.

'_If Tsunade-shishou wants me back, she would come herself.'_ And if Kakashi wanted her back, he would come, even if he had to disobey the Hokage. But those thoughts were only the muffled fantasies of a girl on her emotional deathbed. Their actions were only euphemisms.

They were all death throes.

**T**sunade closed the binder in front of her with a worried expression on her face. Kakashi had left for the C-ranked mission, so she didn't have to think too much about him, but that wasn't what caused the anxiety gripping her chest. The problem was that there was no C-ranked mission for _her_. No matter what happened around her, she had to be the Hokage.

The blond woman leaned back in her chair, her eyes trailing to her assistants who worked silently in the room. She hadn't really expected anyone to find Sakura after a day, but she _was _expecting some progress. If they didn't find her soon, they weren't likely to find her at all.

All Tsunade really wanted was an explanation, even though she was lying to herself. She wouldn't mind bringing Sakura home either; however, that seemed out of the question. She wasn't going to come back just because they asked her to. The short note that Sakura had left for Kakashi–the only thing that proved she wasn't kidnapped or killed by a nukenin–had said enough while explaining nothing. Did Sakura want to move to a different hidden village? Was she going to come back eventually? Where was she going? What was she going to do? All these questions thrived in Tsunade's mind, and she wanted answers. She wanted to know if Sakura would really be safe. She just wanted to know where she was.

The letter said that she would be safe. It said not to worry about her, but Tsunade couldn't help worrying. She knew nothing about Sakura's current status, and it was scary. The girl could be lying in the wilderness, half-eaten by wild animals. She could be dead!

Tsunade shook her head of the horrifying thoughts. Those were bad thoughts. Bad thoughts! She had to stop thinking like that. It didn't help to think like that. _'Get out of my mind!'_

"Hokage-sama!" Tsunade turned to the door where Kotetsu stood, out of breath. "Hokage-sama! Gai-sensei's team found her trail." He handed the report to the blond woman. He had come running as soon as the message arrived and the decoders confirmed that it said what it said. "However, they lost her this morning at a river. Their current status–"

"I can read it myself, Kotetsu," Tsunade said annoyedly. She didn't know what was wrong with this man, but he liked to repeat everything to her. From the first day she became Hokage, he has been repeating _everything _to her. Well, not everything. But the chuunin was a hard worker. He was just too enthusiastic sometimes. "Go back to your duties."

The man backed away, his face contorted with mild pain at her hurtful words. He was only trying to help. "Y-yes," the chuunin said shakily as he backed out of the room. His voice was already cracking. Izumo was definitely going to hear this later.

Tsunade sighed at the closing of the door. She didn't want to snap at her assistants. And it wasn't just Kotetsu. Earlier that day, she had yelled at Shizune for something completely useless. The blond woman was definitely too high strung. She had to find a way to calm herself.

Tsunade flattened the report crunched in her hand by a moment of absentmindedness against her desk. The report. She wasn't ready to read it yet. She didn't want to know the real status behind the hunt for her apprentice but she had no choice. After all, it was work. She had to read it while it was still applicable.

The blond woman took a deep breath, her eyes closed against the possible words that could leap out at her if she looked. Then, she pulled the paper into her field of vision. And put it down again. The news was as bad as she had thought. The only good thing about the report was that there was a very, very small chance they would catch her before she headed into wider territory.

'_We need to find her...while the search radius is still small.'_ Tsunade wanted to find her soon, before she shattered with anxiety. _'While we still have time!'_ They needed to find her, while they still had a chance of returning her home.

_**T**he people that filled the streets of Konoha pushed the pink-haired kunoichi from either side. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find a way through. There were only more people rushing toward her. She couldn't see Naruto anymore. She could only hear the sound of the blond shinobi's shout for her cut through the air._

_Sasuke had left. He always left them whenever he felt like being alone. But Sakura didn't want to be left alone with Naruto...not when her mind was only filled with Sasuke. "Naruto," she said slowly as she turned in the direction of her name. He was nearby._

"_Sakura-chan, I'm going home," he said slowly, his hand nervously hugging his arm in an effort to keep himself from running away. _

"_You came to shop for food. I can't let you starve!" Sakura's determination only rose at Sasuke's abandonment. If she couldn't shop with Sasuke, she was going to shop with Naruto. "I'll buy you food!" She was supposed to come with Sasuke. This was supposed to be their daily shopping time, but she didn't mind. There was always the next day. And... "Think of it as an apology for Sasuke-kun's behaviour." ...Sasuke had left in his same rude manner even though he hadn't seen Naruto for over a month._

_She grabbed Naruto by the arm, her superhuman strength crushing the blond shinobi's arm for a moment before releasing its grip slightly and pulling him ahead. The pink-haired girl pressed forwards, her feet dragging against the ground, her hands numb as her mind dwelled only on Sasuke. The March spring air closed in, suffocating her. _

Sakura dropped to the ground, the dry August air catching in her throat, choking her. The feeling of Naruto's arm was still in her hand as she rasped for air. Even as her eyes fixed on her bare palms, she could feel the orange sleeve there. At that time, she hated him. She hated Naruto for interrupting her shopping date with Sasuke.

And she still hated him for coming between them.

'_Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan, daijoubu?'_ Naruto's concerned shout came close to her ear.

"Urusai, Naruto!" Sakura shouted, even though she knew he wasn't really there. "Leave me alone!" Even when he was dead, he refused to stop annoying her.

'_Hn. Why do we even bother?'_ Sasuke's voice was annoyed. _'Let's just go without her. She's only slowing us down.'_

But Sakura didn't even know why she was going with them! She wasn't going to die. She couldn't die. She wasn't ready to die yet. It wasn't time. She...

...had a promise to keep.

The pink-haired girl shook the memory away. No! She didn't have any promises to keep! She didn't have anything to do. She could die here. Now. There was nothing stopping her.

Sakura sighed, her fingers curling over the green grass beneath her body. There really was nothing stopping her. Not even Kakashi had come to look for her. There was Lee-san and Gai-sensei, and probably teams of people she had never met before, but Tsunade had undoubtedly sent them to search for her. They weren't doing it because they wanted her back. What could they want with a kunoichi who could do nothing to save her team? What could they want with a girl who couldn't even protect the people most important to her? What could they want with a girl who hadn't become stronger even after three years of training?

Nothing.

She could think of nothing. There was nothing they would want with her. There was nothing for her in Konoha. She was worthless as a shinobi, and she was worthless as a medic-nin. She couldn't stop Sasuke from leaving. She couldn't save him when he died, and she couldn't even save Naruto. Naruto had died right before her eyes. Naruto was breathing, was lashing at her with his demonic chakra, and she could do nothing to stop it.

Sakura patted the grass flat beneath her hands, smoothing it into a uniform mass. She tried to ignore her memories, focus on the cool grass beneath her hands. Just the grass. There was only the grass.

Her fingers pressed against the dark green blades, the scent of chlorophyll filling her nose. Green grass. Green grass. Green grass. Red blood.

Sakura pushed herself away at the sudden colour. Her eyes stared widely at the ground. Red blood. There was red blood covering everything! Why was there blood covering everything? Why was there blood everywhere!

Sakura's head pounded at the vivid web of unwashable membrane coating her fingers. Her ears filled with the erratic thumping of her heart as her eyes filled with the sight of permanent rust. _'Green grass. Green grass!'_ She refused to think about the blood still coating her hands, the frantic beating of her heart, the dark stench of blood filling her nose. _'Green grass! Green grass!'_ Her eyes pounded with inescapable fear. _'There is no blood on my hands. There is no real blood. There can't be real blood!'_

But it wouldn't go away. The sight was still there. The vision wouldn't leave her mind. Sakura closed her eyes tight but the squish of unmistakable texture was still there. Her hands were permanently stained.

'_Shannaro!'_

Sakura fell to the ground, her eyes still squeezed shut against the feel of blood on her hands. Naruto's blood. Dead blood. Blood she couldn't save.

Her lungs forced air into her body, her chest pumping each painful cut of breath, coaxing her heart to slow down again. Sakura's entire body throbbed in unison. Her arms and legs ignored her commands to move. There was only the sore ache of muscles that said they hadn't rested properly the day before.

'_Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!'_ Naruto's shouting was farther away than it was before. _'Sasuke's leaving without us!'_

'_I said leave her!'_ Sasuke's voice was angry, but Sakura couldn't move. She couldn't find the strength to move. _'She's just slowing us down.'_

'But Sasuke–' Sasuke's glare cut off Naruto's protest. Slowly, they faded from her vision. Naruto had followed after Sasuke. Naruto always followed after Sasuke. Eventually, everyone followed after Sasuke.

"You left me again," the pink-haired girl said softly to herself. There was no one to listen to her anymore. "Sasuke-kun. Naruto." Sakura wanted to go home. She missed her father's voice and her mother's warm kindness. But there were no heros anymore. There was no one to save her and bring her home. Kakashi wasn't just going to appear and take her home. No one would really come to get a weak, useless shinobi like her.

Now she was truly alone.

**T**he bright midday sun reflected off the surface of the river, blinding Lee completely. He had run up the river and down the river, but he still couldn't find any trace of Sakura...just as Neji had said. They had lost her again, and he couldn't forgive himself for letting that chance get away. Sakura... Sakura was... Sakura couldn't leave! He couldn't just let her leave the village without a single word of explanation. They deserved an explanation!

"Sakura-san! Sakura-san!" He had been reduced to shouting her name across the treetops.

"Lee," Tenten said, annoyed at his incessant shouting. He had been doing it for hours, running up and down the river and shouting. "She's trying to run away from us. If you yell like that, she'll know where we are, baka!" She didn't even know why she was telling him that. He probably wouldn't listen. "Why can't you just sit down and let Neji find some clues?" Even Gai-sensei was waiting for Neji to find something. Even though...

"Lee! Two thousand punches for restlessness!"

...Tenten wouldn't consider what Gai-sensei was doing, waiting. He was training in the same insane way that he did in Konoha.

"Yes! Gai-sensei!" Lee ran away from the river that had sucked away all his time since they came to it. Two thousand punches. He needed a very sturdy log for that.

"Finally some peace," Neji said with an exasperated sigh. He thought that he would have gotten used to Lee's overenthusiastic behaviour after four years, but it hadn't grown on him at all. Lee was still as annoying as the day he met him. "I'm going for a walk." He definitely couldn't continue his search with Lee's constant punches sounding in the air. He needed a quieter place.

He needed to care more about this mission.

He really didn't care whether she came back or not. Haruno Sakura. He didn't know her before she left the village. She was only a medic-nin, the girl that Naruto talked constantly about. But he was still going to work hard to bring her back. He didn't like to fail.

Neji plopped down as the sound of fist on wood faded into the background. There was only the sound of the wind through the leaves and his silent breathing. _'Haruno Sakura-ga?'_ He wasn't going to give up. He wasn't going to admit defeat to a weak girl who couldn't even face reality like a true shinobi.

**End Chapter 3**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Die, dies and dice. Don't worry. This isn't a complicated explanation. Die, the noun, is the singular form of dice, the six-sided numbered cubes rolled for a number usually ranging from one to six. That clarifies something that has been annoying me for a while. People keep telling me that it's the other way around, but look it up! Dice can also be the singular form of dice. So if that's what you've been doing, it's also correct. Don't beat yourself over it and don't yell at yourself for not using die. If you decide to use die, please use it correctly. Dies, isn't the plural of die, the six-sided numbered cubes rolled for a number usually ranging from one to six. Dies is the plural of die, a device for cutting or moulding metal or for stamping a design onto coins or medals. And that's it for now.

Fire's babbling:

Sasuke: What other ads do you have here?

Naruto: You mean the ads from the second chapter?

Sasuke: I want to see what Fire has in this bag before—

Fire: (cheerful) I'm here!

Sasuke: Kuso!

Naruto: Hide it! Hide it!

Sasuke: Where!

Fire: Sasuke, give me back my bag.

Sasuke: What bag?

Naruto: Brought to you by Kushi-dango—for the shinobi on the go. This makes no sense!

Fire: (shrugs) The dango shop wanted to advertise.

Naruto: I can't get dango in the middle of a mission!

Sasuke: Dango? Blegh!

Sakura: (holds up a daifuku) How about a daifuku then? The dango shop's having a special.

Sasuke: Get those disgusting things away from me.

Kisame: Stop talking about food and get on with begging for reviews.

Fire: I don't beg!

Kisame: Get this collar off me!

Fire: But the punk look really suits you!

Kisame: I didn't say you can dress me!

Fire: Please review and tell Kisame that he looks good in his collar.

Kisame: I don't!

Fire: And remember to tell me what you thought. I need the motivation to continue this book since I wasn't going to upload it in the first place. I thought that it would be too boring since it's a transition book between stories and all it is is…well, I can't say since it would be spoilers for all of you and then you probably won't want to read it. (sighs sadly) Kisame, I need a hug! (hugs Kisame)

Kisame: Don't hug me! (tries to pry Fire off)

Sasuke: At least you don't have this crazy girl… (points to Sakura) …trying to feed you disgusting daifuku!

Itachi: (stuffs a daifuku into Sasuke's mouth) …

Sasuke: (spits the daifuku out) Yuck! What did you do that for!

Itachi: You hate sweets. (stuffs another daifuku into Sasuke's mouth)

Sasuke: (spits the daifuku out) I hate you! (glares at Itachi with sharingan eyes)

Naruto: (yells at Sasuke) What are you doing! He's already dead at this point in the series!

Sasuke: You're just yelling because you like him! (jealous)

Naruto: (horrified) I do not!

Itachi: …

Fire: (snaps out of hugging Kisame and yells at the Sasuke, Naruto and Itachi) Save that for the ItaNaru! (turns to the audience) Review! Review so I know if the story's still interesting!

Kisame: That means it's time to go. (stares composedly for a moment before trying to pry Fire off again)

Fire: Ja ne!

Kisame: Let go!

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	5. Four: Where

Sasuke: I don't want to be your secretary. Why can't you have Kisame handle these interviews?

Kisame: I'm not Fire's secretary either.

Fire: (holding an armful of presents for the audience) Do you want to interview a new secretary for me, Sasuke?

Sasuke: … (stares at the presents) What are those?

Naruto: I'll do it! (grabs the resumes from Sasuke) Today, we have Hinata!

Hinata: Ano…hi…Naruto-kun.

Fire: Presents for everyone! (throws boxes of presents at the audience)

Sasuke: (grabs Naruto away from Hinata) Get away from my dobe! (glares at Hinata with sharingan eyes)

Hinata: (gasps in fear and backs away from Sasuke) …

Neji: (jumps into jyuuken stance in front of Sasuke) Step away from Hinata-sama! (eyes go byakugan)

Naruto: (catches a present) Yay! A present! (opens the box, completely oblivious to the imminent fight)

Fire: Hinata, where's my reviews?

Hinata: Ah! (jumps two feet into the air at the sudden question) Ano…

Sasuke: Speak up! We don't have all day!

Naruto: What's this? (holds up a Kisame doll) I don't want this!

Fire: I had time so I made everyone!

Kisame: I don't want you holding me!

Fire: That's mine actually. (takes the Kisame doll) You can have Sasuke. (hands Sasuke doll to Naruto)

Naruto: Yay!

Sasuke: Hey! (grabs Naruto doll from Hinata) That's mine!

Neji: Don't steal Hinata-sama's things! (pushes Sasuke with a jyuuken hand)

Sasuke: (holds throbbing arm) Her name's not on it!

Fire: Yes it is. (points to Hinata's name stitched on Naruto doll's foot) This one's yours. (hands a second Naruto doll to Sasuke) Now where are my reviews?

Hinata: Ano… (holds up the extremely heavy Big Bag of Reviews)

Neji: Hinata-sama shouldn't take orders from crazy people like you. (grabs Hinata and pulls her away)

Fire: Crazy? – – ;; I guess we failed at another interview.

Sasuke: (hands the review window to Fire) Just read your reviews! (hugs his Naruto doll)

Fire: Well…blood hmm? (looks at kDanthe-san) Um…I guess there will be a little more blood later on, but don't expect any rooms outside.

Sasuke: Let's torture Sakura more.

Sakura: No!

Fire: Well, nothing more to say other than that. Where are you lazy people who won't review!

Kisame: (holding up Samehada) I'll kill them with my sword!

Fire: – – ;; Um…better read the next chapter before Kisame goes crazy and kills us all. (throws Chapter 4 onto the screen)

---------------------------

Warning: This contains spoilers past the current anime episodes, but I'm sure everyone already knows that. But since I'm referring specifically to people and events that haven't appeared in the anime yet in this chapter, I thought I'd make a formal announcement. Warning! Warning! Okay, you get the idea.

---------------------------

**Chapter 4: Where...**

**A** C-ranked mission. It had been a long time since he has had a C-ranked mission so it was nostalgic for him. The last time was with Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura on their trip to Mizu no Kuni. Kakashi had to smile at the fond memories. They had all thought they would die then. He never knew that they could come to such a conclusion now. Half their team was already gone. It was worse than his own genin team.

'_Ah...Obito, what would you have done to stop them?'_ His mind naturally asked his deceased teammate, but of course, Obito didn't answer. Obito never answered.

"Kakashi-san?" Kakashi turned toward Koharu's slightly worried face. He was just here to protect them. He hadn't expected them to talk to him! "If you're troubled, you should talk about it. Sarutobi wouldn't have wanted you to suffer like this either."

Kakashi turned away from the village elder with a grateful dip of his head. "Was coming to the capital a mistake..." He mused to himself, not really aware that he was speaking aloud. "...when my mind is occupied by something else?"

He was somewhat surprised that someone like Utatane Koharu knew about his personal problems. They had come to the capital to meet with the damiyo. It was suitable for the village elders to deal with something so delicate as inter-government relations. They had enough experience.

"Sakura is a strong kunoichi. She will find her way home eventually," the woman said optimistically. Koharu-sama, who was usually so strict and distant, couldn't help being nice to Kakashi. These problems were the normal problems of a man surrounded by death and war. He reminded her of her own grandchildren. "Others worry about you when you are like this." Did he really think that she and Homura needed an extra bodyguard when there was already a entourage of ANBU and tokubetsu jounin at their disposal? _'Tsunade, you're only making him worry more.'_ She wished the blond woman could have thought of something else to occupy the Copy Ninja's mind. "Maybe it was a bad idea to accept this mission."

"Daijoubu, Koharu-sama. Shinpainai," Kakashi said through a forced smile, even though he wasn't smiling at her. He couldn't turn down this mission when Tsunade only wanted to help him. He really couldn't say no. "The meeting will resume soon." And the last thing he wanted was for Koharu to worry about him too. He could be sent on even stranger missions.

Koharu turned toward the meeting room again. She knew exactly what he was doing. He couldn't hide it from a woman who had seen through the best and worst times of as many people as Sarutobi did. But he was right. The meeting was going to resume soon, and she couldn't miss it. "Come back in before it gets too cold." But that was an understatement. It was early August. It wasn't going to be too cold.

Kakashi relaxed slightly as the woman walked away. She had left easier than he had thought. He had thought she would argue with him...but he was thinking of Sakura again. Sakura would have yelled at him for keeping it all inside. She would have forced the truth out of him, no matter how long it took.

The masked jounin didn't like to admit it, but he wanted to be alone. He didn't want others to know the other side of himself, the side that was always wrong. It was the side he tried to cover up and rip out with his usual persona. But he still couldn't abandon what was essentially a part of himself. He was still that boy from long ago. He couldn't stop. He couldn't stop being useless.

'_Sakura...'_ Kakashi buried his face in the palm of his gloved hand. He couldn't tear her face from his mind, her voice from his memory. _'I'm useless.'_ He couldn't even bring himself to go. He couldn't even make himself look for her.

**R**elief filled Lee as his legs bounced off each surface, propelling his body forwards with every leap. After meditating for so long that Lee had almost forgotten when he began, Neji finally found Sakura's trail again. They were close. He said they were close. _'Sakura-san!'_

Lee restrained the urge to call her name across the trees. Tenten was glaring at him from the corner of his eye, reminding him constantly. If he wasn't careful, Sakura would know they were coming for her. She would run from them. And Lee didn't want her to run before he could see her.

He wanted to see her.

'_Why did you leave?'_ Lee couldn't believe that the gentle girl he knew in Konoha would just leave without a word. She didn't say goodbye to them. _'Sakura-san!'_ It wasn't possible. The idea that she would want to actually leave them... Her mind was just clouded. That was all. All he needed to do was talk to her. Then, she would smile and return.

That was his fantasy, and that was what he believed. If he stopped, he really would scream her name across the trees until she ran to him and yelled at him to stop.

He shouldn't be fantasizing in the middle of a mission. He knew that. But he couldn't help it. What pain was Sakura feeling at this moment? What was going through her mind? _'I'll protect you 'till I die.'_ His promise to her when he first met her...he really meant it. But what good did it do when he couldn't reach her? Those promises weren't empty promises. He didn't want to just let her go like that.

He had to find her. He had to see her. That was all that went through his mind. He couldn't just let her deal with this on her own. Sakura was there for him when he thought he could never be a shinobi again. She was the support that led him through adversity, and now, she needed a support of her own. Lee really wanted to be that person.

He wasn't going to let anyone else get there before him.

'_Sakura-san!'_ His thoughts rang across the dense forest even though his voice was restrained. _'I will protect you!'_

**T**he sky was boring. Sakura wanted to stop staring at it. She willed herself to get up and stop staring at it. But her body didn't obey. She had run out of the food she had bought in Otafuku Gai and now, she was starving. There was a river nearby, but that was in the direction she had come and she couldn't go back for fish. Lee was behind her. If she went back, they would catch her.

'_One...'_ Her mind counted monotonously. Slowly, she was becoming Shikamaru. _'Two...'_ The clouds were gathering again. Soon it would rain. _'Three...'_ She couldn't stop her mind from numbing. She couldn't stop herself from counting the clouds. _'One.'_ There was one cloud. Her eyes were playing tricks on her. There weren't three clouds. There was only one. One cloud covering the entire sky.

Sakura closed her eyes, exhaling deeply as she raised her hand. When she opened them, the blood... _'It will be gone.'_

The sky rumbled gently overhead as she cautiously opened her eyes. It will be gone. It will be gone. The blood...

Sakura stared at her hand as rain drenched her body. Nothing. The blood really was gone. She had thought that she was only imagining it, but it was gone. It was really gone. There was only clear rain...the clean rain soaking her hands.

For the first time since she left home, her mind weighed with relief. She wasn't going insane. It was nothing. The hallucinations were gone now. She could rest for awhile before she continued on her way.

'_Are you still lying here?'_ Sasuke's annoyed expression frowned down at her. _'We've been gone for two days and you just sleep. Always so lazy!'_

'_Sasuke! Don't yell at Sakura-chan! She's tired.'_

Sasuke glared at Naruto. _'You always take her side! You chose me, remember!'_

Sakura closed her eyes against the two forms. Choosing Sasuke... Yes. Naruto did follow him into death. He had loved him enough to do it. As for herself, she wasn't strong enough to do it. She didn't...love Sasuke enough? Was that it?

No.

That wasn't it. She loved Sasuke, possibly more than Naruto. But even though she was in pain, her body refused to die. Even with the rain drowning her, her body could only gurgle air through the water.

'_Sasuke-kun...'_ Sakura's thoughts refused to allow her to let them fade from her memory. Her mind clung desperately to their images, their voices, their personalities, their everything. Everything that was a part of her teammates, her mind wouldn't let go. _'Naruto...'_ It reached out with frantic hands, clawing with thin fingers of impossibility. _'No! Don't leave me!'_

But even though she wanted to grab them and drag them back to reality, her water-heavy arms lifted reluctantly from the ground. Only with the tiny weight of the rain, her arms were inhibited. They refused to lift themselves to Naruto who stood over her, or to Sasuke who threatened to walk away again.

"Onegai..." Slowly, Sakura's body rose from the ground. But Sasuke was already walking ahead. Naruto was fading from sight. "Sasuke-kun..." Her feet shuffled forwards in the cold rain, her cloak matting against her body in a wet mass. _'Kimi-tachi-wa atashi sawanaide kudasai.'_ But they weren't listening. No matter how much she called out through the wet air, her feet dragging through the muddy ground, they didn't stop. _'Yamete kudasai.'_ They didn't listen to her.

But they never left her sight. Even though she knew that she was hallucinating again, that these people couldn't possibly be there, her mind still refused to let them fade from her memory. They were still there. They weren't leaving her. Not yet. They couldn't leave her yet. She still needed them.

Because even if she was alone, she didn't want to be alone. She didn't want them to leave her.

**End Chapter 4**

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Here's something confusing that I've come across. Awhile and a while. There's no need to scratch your head over this anymore. They mean the same thing. Don't fall over like that! The only difference between them is that "awhile" is an adverb and "a while" is a noun. This means that the only place where their usage differentiates is after "for." After "for," use the noun. And that's it! Next time, something a little more complicated? I haven't decided yet.

Fire's babbling:

Sasuke: (pulling himself up after falling over at the "revelation") Baka! Aren't you supposed to tell us something more important than that!

Fire: (hiding behind Kisame) I've been telling people about words and phrases that mean different things, so I thought I'd tell them about something that means the same thing.

Kisame: At least it's short.

Fire: Anyway, nothing really happened in this chapter, I know. But this story is basically about the deterioration of Sakura's old personality and replacing it with her new one. So look carefully, you'll see it flake away.

Sakura: I hate you! Why are you making me sound like a lunatic!

Fire: Um…you are?

Sakura: O.o

Fire: Anyway, review! Tell me what you think! I know the story is a little boring but this is why I didn't want to upload it! Then, Sasuke had to yell at me about—

Sasuke: If you don't put it online, everyone thinks Sakura's OOC!

Fire: Waah! You see? So tell him that you still want to read this! There's only going to be about nine chapters in total. All the sidestories, prologues and epilogues are about this length. (hugging Kisame) Kisame, make the scary shinobi go away!

Kisame: (grins at Sasuke and pulls out Samehada) Whatever you say…

Sasuke: Hey! Fire said not to swing that in the window! You'll just hit—

Fire: (gets hit by Samehada) Ack!

Kisame: (stares at a bleeding Fire) Hm…I remember now.

Sasuke: I'm running away!

Kisame: To the hospital it is! (picks up Fire) Ja ne!

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	6. Five: The End of the World

Fire: Welcome back! (throws Neji dolls to everyone) Sand wanted me to make these, but since I made too many, have some Neji dolls!

Neji: I don't want my likeness spread around the internet.

Sasuke: Too late. Did you see the Sasuke dolls?

Neji: (sweats) …

Fire: Who are we interviewing today?

Sasuke: (reads the resume) Akimichi Chouji.

Chouji: Hey, is there any food in here? (holds up the Big Bag of Reviews)

Fire: It's the Bag of Reviews. There are only reviews in there.

Chouji: … (thinks for a moment) So I can't eat it?

Fire: (sweats) I hope not!

Chouji: I'm hungry. (drops the bag at the bottom of the window) I'd rather go to sukiyaki. (walks away) I quit.

Fire: But!

Kisame: He was pretty good at his job too. (grabs the review window from the bag)

Fire: I know.

Sasuke: I don't want to hire him.

Fire: Now hand me my reviews.

Sasuke: (hands Fire a window) I hate this job.

Kisame: I just want to go to the story.

Fire: Akatsuki is currently hiring. Come for tryouts today! What?

Sasuke: That's an ad. Close that window and read the one under it.

Fire: (closes the Akatsuki window) Um…yes. I remember replying to this one. (turns to kDanthe-san) Thank you for continuing to review!

Kisame: That's not what you wanted to say!

Fire: Waah! I know! I forgot to tell you that the blood also represents the manifestation of her insanity. She can't wash it away. She can't escape it. And it's Naruto's blood so it's also a representation of her past returning to haunt her. Creepy right? It really ties in with the memories of her teammates. Hence the hallucinations.

Sakura: I'm not insane!

Fire: But I like your idea of sanity melting away. Anyway, any interpretation on my work is welcome. I like using metaphors and symbolism so there's a lot of it in my work, especially around the main characters.

Kisame: Someone make Fire stop talking!

Fire: Waah! I walk to talk more!

Sasuke: You talk too much!

Sakura: Read this! (rolls chapter 5 onto the window)

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**Chapter 5: The End of the World**

**T**here was no way to know for sure. Her feet continued forwards of their own accord, ignoring her tired breaths, and as she looked forwards with her clouded vision, she could only see warm bubbles of air fade away. Sakura had no idea where her body was carrying her.

Then a rock wall smacked against her face, knocking her backwards. The pink-haired girl stared forwards, trying to see what she had walked into, and after a few moments, she finally saw it through the rain. A rock wall.

'_Where am I?'_ Although there were cliffs like this in Hi no Kuni, there were too many of them. She could be anywhere. _'Can I go around it?'_ Sakura looked to the left, to the right. The wall was endless and she certainly wanted to stay away from the waterfall far to the left. The rocks there were even slipperier in the rain. She definitely couldn't climb there.

Slowly, she reached a hand forwards, gripping a crag as tightly as possible with her weary hands. Food. She needed food. And that waterfall... No. There would be no fish in a waterfall. The basin would have a few, but...

Sakura looked longingly at the water sparkling in the distance. It was so far. The only way to really know was through the bright reflection of light that could be nothing other than water.

...it was only a detour. A slight detour and she would have fish and water, and...

She shook her head vigorously. No! If she turned now, they would catch her for sure! That detour was too large. It would take too much time to get there. She...

...looked up the steep wall.

...just had to go up this wall and she could have the fish at the top. She could eat after she lost her pursuers.

And robotically, she pulled herself up the slope. Her instincts told her as soon as she was a high distance above the ground, and her arms threatened chakra, but she couldn't do it. There was no energy to convert to chakra. She was too hungry. She needed to do this the hard way.

'_Waah! And I was trying so hard to save some of that food for later!'_ She had even eaten a snake that had tried to eat her for food. Her thought at the time was, _'Heh. May as well eat him since he was trying to eat me.'_ But it was disgustingly difficult to gut and there was no meat on him at all!

"Shannaro!" Sakura gripped the wall tightly, but there was still so much more rock before she could rest. The cliff face was flat, completely flat. There was nowhere to rest before the top.

And her nails were bleeding. The rocks were sharp, even cutting through her tough hands. It was too difficult to hold on. The blood...it was slipperier than if she was climbing right under the waterfall! Each new grip was a refreshing hold, offering clean hope before tainting. Soon. She didn't have to go much further now. The top was almost there.

Halfway to the top, Sakura stopped to catch her breath. Gravity weighed distinctly on each limb, threatening to drag her body to the ground far below. It hung from her heart as a vigilant pendulum, waiting for her guard to slip, so it could bring her to death.

Sakura closed her eyes, trying to block out the feel of pooling blood around her hands. Soon, she would fall. She knew it. She couldn't hold on any longer.

'_Concentrate. Concentrate chakra to the hands!'_ She searched for any chakra she could spare. If she wasn't careful, she really would fall and kill herself. She needed chakra, so she could hang on for a little longer.

Her muscles had already exhausted, tensed so tightly that it could tear at any moment. Her arms struggled to keep her weight up. This cliff, this rock face was too high. She couldn't do it on her own strength.

'_Sakura, even after all that training, you're useless.'_ Sasuke's black eyes stared down at her from the top. _'I was right. Naruto is a better choice.'_ His voice was merciless.

'_Sakura-chan! Hayaku! I don't know how long I can keep Sasuke here!'_ It was as if Naruto hadn't heard anything that Sasuke had said. _'You've done this before in endurance training! It's just a little bit harder! That's all!'_

Sakura shook with anger. That's all? That's what _he_ says! That's what the living ball of chakra says. It was easy to say that when he had a limitless chakra source in his body! "Naruto, I'm going to wring your neck!" She growled as she pulled herself up. Naruto always knew how to anger her.

Her hands reached forwards grabbing onto jutting stones, grasping onto another stone as she pulled herself up, then another hold, and another, her strength returning miraculously. She will kill him. She will...

As soon as she came to the top, Sakura dropped to the ground, her chest heaving. She will? What was she thinking? That was impossible. Naruto was already dead. He couldn't die again.

Sakura buried her face in her hands beneath the pounding rain. Her skin froze with the intensity of the cold water, but she couldn't wipe that memory from her mind. Why? Why did she hate Naruto so much? She didn't want to hate him. She didn't want to hate the man that Sasuke loved. But she couldn't stop herself. It was Naruto. If it was anyone else, it would have been okay–she wouldn't hate another girl or even another guy–but why Naruto? Out of everyone, why did it have to be Naruto?

"Sasuke-kun..." She just didn't want to think about them anymore. Her eyes didn't see properly the reality that surrounded her. The dirty water draining from her ruddy skin was running into her eyes. "Please don't leave me..." ...like Kakashi did.

She knew her thoughts were running all over the place, all over her rational mind and spilling to the floor of her irrational brain. Her hands shook as she tried to pull the thoughts into her mind again, but they were gushing too quickly to hold, cutting through her fingers and passing unstoppably. Kakashi... Kakashi-sensei left her alone. If he had come after her, she would have gone back. She would have agreed to return to Konoha. Because he was the only one left. Kakashi was the only one left who held the memories of her past clearly for her to see.

Sakura wanted to move. If she moved, she could forget about them, she could push her lost teammates, thoughts of her pursuers, and Kakashi out of her mind. A little physical pain could bring her mind to reality and out of the hell in her head. _'Move!'_ Her mind screamed even though her body still lay on the ground, leaden. But it was reaching, its tiny hands grabbing onto her, latching onto her so that she couldn't leave. Memory had a hold of her, and it wasn't letting go.

**T**he insistent barks of a dog came from above before a huge white ball fell on Tenten. The kunoichi leapt back, her hand reaching for a kunai at the sudden attack. She wasn't going to let anyone ambush her during their break!

"Oi! Akamaru!" Kiba's shout came from nearby. "Did you find her?" And he walked up to the resting team.

"What are you doing?" Neji wasn't happy to see Kiba. While his team was seriously searching for Sakura, Kiba's team was playing around! "This isn't your territory." Kiba, Shino and Hinata were nearby, but they were supposed to be far to the west, heading in the direction of Ame no Sato. They were way off track if they were here.

"Ano...Neji-niisan," Hinata said softly from behind Kiba. "Akamaru said she was in this direction."

"Get your dog off me!" Tenten yelled at Kiba. Akamaru wasn't the small puppy that he was three years ago. She didn't appreciate having a huge animal sitting on her.

"Akamaru isn't my dog!" Kiba shouted angrily. "He's my partner!" Tenten had said it like he was a mindless pet.

"Minna-san!" Lee ran up frantically at the sudden shouting. "Sakura-san will hear us!" He didn't want to alert Sakura to their location.

"She's not nearby," Neji said calmly. He was one of the only people not yelling.

"My bugs confirm it." Shino was another.

"Waah!" Lee yelled at Shino's sudden appearance. He hadn't seen him at all. "H-how long have you been standing there?" That man was really good at stealth!

"I was always here."

Lee stared at the suspicious chuunin. _'Why don't I believe that?'_

"We're not holding a party here. Leave and let us do our work," Neji said annoyedly. They were close. They were so close, and now they had to deal with these amateurs!

"You just insulted us in your mind, didn't you?" Kiba shouted. He knew he did. Neji was just the kind of guy to do something like that.

"This _is _a party." Everyone turned to Shino at his surprising comment. "It's a search party."

"That's not what I meant," Neji growled angrily, his eyes widening into the byakugan.

"N-neji-niisan!"

"You can't take all the credit for returning her to Konoha. We were also ordered to find her. If you know this is the right direction, you shouldn't misdirect your comrades." Shino wasn't going to back down, especially when he knew he was right.

"Hn." Neji hated to admit he was wrong. But he was wrong. "One team is enough for one girl." If they knew Neji and the rest of his team was already going after her, they should just leave and return to Konoha. "You can bring our report to Hokage-sama." There was no longer a need for them. Lee really wanted to personally find Sakura. Even if they asked, even if they decided that their team should leave, Lee would never accept it. He would still continue, just so that he could be the one to find her.

"No." However, Shino was also stubborn. "There is no statement that says we cannot have multiple teams on one trail." His bugs were scurrying around. There was nothing nearby. If they didn't hurry, they wouldn't be able to find her. "And Sakura has that superhuman strength. If she doesn't want us to take her back to Konoha, she would definitely use it." They needed as many people around as possible.

"True," Neji said slowly after a moment's thought. He couldn't argue with Shino's logic. It was almost as infallible as his own. "She should be nearby."

"I already said that," Kiba said, annoyed at their long conversation. _He_ was supposed to be the leader, not Shino! He should be the one to discuss all those things with Neji! "Akamaru already knows where she is. We should hurr–"

"We were taking a break." Neji looked into the sky, at the position of the pale sun above the grey screen of cloud. Gai had decided on a five minute break since they had moved nonstop for what seemed like days, and Neji was intent on following orders. "There are still two minutes before we move on."

"That's too late!" Kiba shouted. "She'll be gone by then!" Neji had his byakugan. Why didn't he use those eyes and see where she was! She wasn't going to wait forever!

"That waterfall is close, and she's tired," Neji said, annoyed. He shot a glare in Hinata's direction. She should have told her team about it by now. "She won't be going anywhere."

Hinata took an awkward step back. Neji was nicer to her now, like a real brother, but the sudden cold glare brought back the bad memories of their past. Suddenly, it was the Neji from three years ago. "Ano..." And even though she knew it wasn't her fault, that he was only irritated by Kiba's pushiness, she couldn't help thinking that it was because of her. Everything was because of her, right?

That was why guilt took hold of Neji almost immediately after he glared at her. "Fine. We'll leave immediately."

"But," Lee shouted, surprised at the decision. "What about Gai-sensei? He went to survey the area!" It was another way of saying he wandered off somewhere and was probably lost so they needed to find him first, or they won't be able to find him at all. "We can't leave without Gai-sensei!"

"Yes we can. I'm a jounin too. I can lead this team." Neji turned to look at Kurenai. The woman wasn't objecting because it was true. As long as Neji had the responsibility of being a jounin, he could be their leader. "Hinata-sama, stay here and look for Gai-sensei. You can catch up with us when you–"

"Oi! Why does Hinata have to stay behind? No one said you can order our team around!" Kiba growled angrily at Neji.

"Hinata-sama can look for him if he's lost. She has the same byakugan I do."

"You can't just leave her behind alone!" Kiba was insistent. He didn't like Neji's attitude. He was much easier to work with when Shikamaru was giving the orders.

"I'll also stay," Shino said, pushing up his sunglasses in the same calm manner he always exhibited. "I can assist her with my bugs."

Kiba could only stare at his teammate. "Nani! You can't stay behind! That means he wins!"

And it seemed as if their unending argument was going to stop them from finding Sakura altogether.

**T**he faint rumble of the ground soothed Sakura for a short while before she realized she should go. There were chakra signatures nearby. She could feel them around her. They were... They were... Sakura sat up quickly, her arms shooting to her kunai pouches. They were surrounding her!

'_Too soon!'_ How did they find her so quickly?

But she knew. Lee's team. That meant that Neji was there. She had forgotten that they were good at tracking, especially with the byakugan on their side, and she had been careless covering her trail.

"Sakura-san!" Lee's shout came from the line of trees not far away. "Sakura-san!"

"Lee! Stop yelling!" Kiba's annoyed shout stopped the green-clad chuunin.

Sakura backed against the edge of the cliff. After climbing for so long, she didn't know if she had the strength to run anymore. But even if she had the strength, there was nowhere to run. This time... This time, they were going to drag her back.

**End Chapter 5**

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Since I haven't talked about punctuation for a long time, I'm going to bring one up. Have some exclamation points! (throws exclamation points to the audience) They're also called exclamation marks. Either name is correct. I'm sure everyone already knows how to use exclamation points, so I'm not going to go through a lot. Generally, they're used after interjections, exclamatory words and phrases, and strong commands. If you didn't know this already, you know now. But to the writer, here's the important point about exclamation points. They're used for reporting differences in dialogue. So, "Okay! I'll eat more vegetables," said Naruto, is different from, "Okay, I'll eat more vegetables," said Naruto. The difference is the way Naruto said "okay." In the first example, the word expresses irritation and frustration, genuine indignation. In the second example, "okay" is more passive and reserved, resigned and generally overlooked in excitement. From the first example, there is a lot of determination and the overall impression is that Naruto will be eating vegetables later; however the second example denotes a passiveness and lack of determination. Naruto is only saying it to get the other person to stop asking, and may not actually eat any vegetables later. Now, as a reminder, don't overuse exclamation points. Doubling them doesn't increase its effects, so don't do things like "Okay! I'll eat more vegetables!" because it's grammatically incorrect. Substitute a period for the second exclamation point and one exclamation point where there are two and use "Okay! I'll eat more vegetables." instead. And last point before I end this exceptionally long tidbit, the use of "!" is not acceptable in formal writing. I know I use it too, but that's because this isn't a formal paper or something for school. If you're writing something that your superiors—like your teacher or boss—are going to read, use "!" instead of "!" So don't use more than one exclamation point after a sentence or phrase and don't use exclamation points in combination with question marks.

Fire's babbling:

Sasuke: (staring at the tidbit) Long… I bet no one's going to read it.

Fire: Someone will!

Kisame: Can't you tone down on the blood?

Sasuke: Yeah. Kisame's going to go into a frenzy.

Kisame: For the last time, I'm a shark_man_! Not a shark!

Fire: Yeah. That's why I can do this! (snaps a collar around Kisame's neck) Sharks don't have necks.

Kisame: I hate you.

Fire: No you don't.

Sakura: Get down to the important business here! You can't let them catch me!

Lee: Sakura-san! (runs up to Sakura) Sakura-san!

Sakura: (runs away) …

Tenten: I have dog snot on my shirt! (grabs Kiba's hand and wipes it off) Don't drop your dog on me!

Kiba: Hey! Use a handkerchief! And I told you already! Akamaru's my partner, not my dog!

Akamaru: (agreeing) Arf!

Fire: Well, things are just going to get more complicated. For those wondering how long this book is. There are nine chapters. All my sidestories are nine chapters long, or around that length. You'll know when it ends.

Kisame: Fire writes it at the end so you all know. Kind of a control freak that way since we never know when something has ended.

Fire: Then I wait and I wait but they never post up another chapter. (hugs Kisame) Waah!

Kisame: (annoyed) Do I look like a handkerchief!

Sasuke: (nodding) A giant blue one.

Kisame: Die! (swings Samehada at Sasuke)

Sasuke: (jumps away) Missed me, shark!

Kisame: Shark_man_!

Sharkman: Um…why did you call me here?

Fire: Wrong series.

Sharkman: Then I'm logging out. (logs out)

Disembodied voice: Sharkman, logging out.

Kisame: Where did that voice come from?

Fire: I don't care. Don't swing that sword in here. (turns to the audience) Send your reviews! I know you're out there and you have opinions! Where are they? Where are they!

Sasuke: Mental breakdown again?

Fire: Arrgh!

Kisame: It's the other fics, then there are the original stories in that small brain too.

Fire: (yelling) Tell me what you think! Where are your opinions!

Kisame: That Gundam fic is really taking a toll too. It's threatening the Wait for Me series.

Sasuke: The Land of Freedom series hasn't been uploaded yet. It's not threatening anything.

Fire: (still yelling) Send me your opinions!

Sakura: And you tell Fire not to advertise.

Kisame: Is this window still open?

Sasuke: Ja, then!

Kisame: We're going to the hospital again! (throws Fire over his shoulder and closes the window)

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	7. Six: Running from the End

Fire: Here's our Golden Week special!

Sasuke: There's nothing special about this chapter.

Fire: Except it's Golden Week! April 29 to May 7 this year. If you want to know more about it, PM me, but since I know a lot of you don't live in Japan, I'm loading this week. Besides, it's too cruel to have the late upload last week and no upload this week. (sighs) And I know this chapter is late too. (hugs Kisame) But there are bugs in the document manager again and I can't upload my files! (serious) I posted a message on my user profile, but I don't know if anyone saw it yesterday when the next chapter wasn't posted. Next time there's a glitch in my uploading schedule, go to my user profile. There will be a message at the top in bold! (happy again) But it's Aku no Yami chapter 6! We're almost at the end! Hurray! (throws ads)

Sasuke: You're too happy about this.

Kisame: Fire really didn't want to post this story.

Fire: Well, almost nothing happens in it. It's really just a psychological story.

Sasuke: Yeah. Tell that to the readers now that we're almost at the climax of the story.

Fire: (annoyed) Just tell me who we're interviewing.

Sasuke: It's—

Ino: Brought to you by Chakra Inc.—good for everything from sticking to walls to walking on water.

Sasuke: (promptly) No.

Fire: We're interviewing Ino?

Sasuke: Next!

Ino: Sasuke-kun! You didn't even give me a chance to do the job!

Sasuke: You're not doing it. Next!

Fire: (stares at Ino) At least give me the bag.

Ino: (sighs) I wanted this job too. (hands the review window to Fire and the Big Bag of Reviews to Kisame)

Kisame: I didn't think this job was _that_ difficult.

Fire: You want to do it?

Kisame: No. This bag is too damned heavy, even when it's empty!

Fire: Well, before I say anything else, I want to explain about last chapter's title. I know it was called _The End of the World_. I'm not sure if anyone got the metaphor in that, so I thought I'd explain it since I liked the metaphor.

Kisame: I'm going to kill a few things while you talk.

Fire: No! (hugs Kisame tightly) No leaving!

Sasuke: Just say it so we can get to the story.

Fire: I'm going to touch on the world that has come to an end, but basically, it marks the end of the bulk of Sakura's hallucinations. You should probably note that Sakura stops hallucinating altogether in this chapter.

Kisame: Hurry and talk about your reviews so I can kill something.

Fire: That remark made no sense.

Kisame: I don't care.

Fire: First, a general statement from what kDanthe-san said in the review sent. Hm…

Sasuke: Say it already!

Fire: I don't know how to say this.

Naruto: Yes. It was my blood Sakura hallucinates about. It ties in with the prologue where Sakura's having the nightmare about my death.

Sasuke: I thought she was obsessed about me, not you.

Naruto: Yeah but it's supposed to parallel Dan, Tsunade-obaachan's boyfriend's death. It's very traumatizing although Sakura doesn't become a haemophobe. She has a different twist!

Sasuke: Have you been helping Fire with this fic when I wasn't looking?

Fire: (nervous) Wh-what makes you say that?

Sasuke: Sakura's not being tortured enough.

Sakura: I'm being tortured enough!

Fire: And I finally have a second reviewer!

Kisame: Are you going to make another general statement to everyone?

Fire: Maybe just a thank you to K-chan.

Kisame: Good. You just said it, so I'm going to pull up the chapter. (pulls up chapter 6)

---------------------------

**Chapter 6: Running from the End**

**T**he world of reality was catching up with Sakura. That was what Kiba thought as he rushed through the trees to the rain soaked cliff. She couldn't run away forever. That wasn't what living was about. Living was about beating arrogant guys like Hyuuga Neji. That was why he had to get there first. He had to be the one to catch Sakura.

"Akamaru!"

"Arf!" _Ready!_ They were going to surround Sakura on two sides. And if she ran forwards, she would run right into Lee. There was no way to escape.

"Sakura-san!" Lee was shouting Sakura's name. The green-clad chuunin was too excited. Without Tenten around–since they finally agreed to have one person from each team stay behind, Tenten was the obvious other choice; if Neji had stayed behind, they wouldn't need Hinata's byakugan and Lee refused to stay–Lee had no self-control. "Sakura-san!"

"Lee! Stop yelling!" Kiba shouted at his temporary teammate. Sakura was obviously right in front of them. If Lee kept yelling like that, she would know they were there!

And she did.

As they broke away from the trees, Kiba stopped. Akamaru shook at his side, shaking the shining leaves that clung to his wet fur into the air. Through the screen of wind and leaves, Kiba could see that the area was empty.

"Kuso!" And he couldn't even smell where she went! "Kuso ame!"

Kiba ran forwards. She couldn't have gone far. Neji had said she was weak, that she couldn't go far, and even though he didn't like listening to Neji, he knew that the information was accurate. The Hyuuga's analytical skills were almost as good as his.

"Akamaru!" Kiba gestured for the huge dog. Below the cliff, a dark green figure glided down on a large cloak, carried into the trees by the wind. That could only be Sakura. Even though she didn't own a cloak like that, it had to be Sakura.

"Arf!"

Kiba grabbed onto white fur as the dog leapt into the air, soaring off the cliff. He knew that the cliff was tall, and it was raining. There was a chance Akamaru could hurt himself. But he also knew that this was their chance. If they let it go now, he didn't know if they could catch Sakura again. Besides, he trusted that Akamaru could handle it, since he had jumped off the cliff of his own free will.

"Sakura-san!" Lee shouted as he leapt across the cliff into the trees. He had no fear, not when it came to Sakura. He had enough training to jump without hurting himself. After all, he was a taijutsu specialist.

"Che!" Neji looked out across the trees below, his byakugan scanning through foliage. Lee and Kiba were both reckless. He had no desire to hurt himself like that.

"The rock face is too steep," Kurenai said as she looked at the cliff. "There are very few crags to hold onto."

'_Yes.'_ It was true. As he focussed his byakugan on the wall at his feet, he could see it for what it was. He couldn't easily run down this wall with chakra, not with the rain pounding on his head. _'I didn't think the girl was this formidable.'_

He had wanted to conserve his chakra for pursuit, but since she was already within reach, he didn't have to do it anymore. "Kurenai-sensei, stay here and wait for Hinata-sama, Tenten and Gai-sensei. I'm going ahead." He leapt from the cliff.

"Matte! Neji!" Kurenai watched as he fell. _'What is he thinking?'_ There was no guarantee that they would catch her now. He shouldn't be using up his chakra like that.

'_Kaiten!'_

He had thought it through before, and it worked the way he had thought it would. Kaiten allowed him to repel enemy attacks. Even if his enemy was the ground, was gravity, it still worked the same way.

Neji landed on the ground without a scratch on his body, and propelled himself forwards, in the direction he knew Sakura to be. He was in charge of this mission now that Gai was out of the picture. He was definitely going to bring her back.

"He really doesn't know how to wait, does he?" Shino looked down at the brown-haired Hyuuga running under the trees. He had arrived with Hinata, Tenten and Gai the moment he jumped. "But besides jumping, does anyone have any ideas as to how to get down?"

**T**he halls were empty in the damiyo's castle, especially at that time of night. He really had no excuse to be awake at that time, except for patrolling the area, but there were plenty of other shinobi doing that. There was definitely no threat to the village elders' lives.

Kakashi sighed as he walked into the zen garden. He had tried everything else, and he wanted to try this tonight. Quiet meditation was good for clearing the mind, so perhaps it could make him forget what he wasn't doing at this moment.

'_Okay,'_ he thought to himself as he closed his eyes and listened to the sound of cool running water. No one was going to interrupt him. _'Breathe in.' _ He took a deep breath, held it... _'Breathe out.'_ ...and exhaled fully. _'That's it. Don't think about Sakura.'_ Damn! He just thought about Sakura!

"Kakashi-kun," Homura said as he walked into the garden. Koharu had told him about Kakashi's sulking, but he didn't think it was this excessive. "I need you to take this to Hokage-sama." He held up a small scroll.

The grey-haired jounin stared at the scroll. The order was completely out of the blue. "Is it important?" He wanted to ask why, but he couldn't say something like that to a village elder.

"Yes," the man said as he handed the roll of paper to Kakashi.

It had taken the better part of the last day, and this was the best excuse that Homura could come up with to send Kakashi back to Konoha. They had more than enough people in their entourage. They didn't need another ninja–especially one that had such excessive problems–here as well. Although the chances of a life threatening situation were low, if something like that _did _happen, Kakashi would probably be the first to die, regardless of whether or not he was the Copy Ninja.

And that was how Kakashi found himself wandering into Konoha alone, his hand clutching the message written by the two village elders for Tsunade. They had asked specifically for him to bring it to her. In all, it was very suspicious. Even though his mission wasn't over, they were sending him back. And the message didn't seem that important. _'It makes sense to send the useless shinobi back with it,'_ Kakashi thought dejectedly as he looked at the scroll. He wasn't actually there to do anything in the first place. His mission was an excuse for Tsunade to send him on a _vacation._

"Hokage-sama," he said as he walked through the open door into the office of messy papers. The Hokage's office had actually become messier since he left on his mission a week and a half ago. "I have a message from the village elders." He doubted it was anything really important at all. It couldn't be important if they decided to send him back with it instead of sending it by bird.

"Really?" Tsunade turned, mildly surprised from the open binder in her hands to take the scroll from Kakashi. _'Why did they send him back?'_ She wasn't going to ask Kakashi to return until they found Sakura. At this rate, they would never distract Kakashi from his problem.

_From the pen of Utatane Koharu-sama and Mitokado Homura-sama,_

_As Hokage-sama may have already realized, we have sent Hatake Kakashi-kun back to you. We believe that it is best that he stays in his apartment for the duration of this search. We understand that you would like to help Kakashi-kun, but we believe there are better methods than the one you have chosen. Since we cannot think of a way to occupy his time efficiently, we have decided to return him to Konoha. Send him home and let him sleep it off. Sometimes, it's best that he deals with his problems on his own. It's better than having his moping all over the damiyo's castle, and possibly further damaging inter-government relations._

Then, there were details regarding the current status of their meetings with the damiyo. But they were just the same details that they had already sent to her before. Nothing had changed since their last status report. What Tsunade was more interested in was what she should do about Kakashi now that he was back in Konoha.

Tsunade knew what she should do. She knew that rather than appointing him another mission, she should send Kakashi home, and think of a different way to make him forget about Sakura and her leaving, but she couldn't think of anything. And she didn't want to know that he was sulking somewhere in her village. Coming from a time filled with war, she grew up with the idea that tears weren't the answer. Even if she tried, she would still have to go out onto the battlefield and save lives as a medic-nin.

But at that moment, she really couldn't think of anything for him to do. All the missions were taken. "Kakashi," Tsunade said sternly, so that he didn't just think this was a suggestion from a friend. If he thought it was a suggestion, he probably wouldn't do it. "Go to the onsen, and take your mind off everything. I won't assign you any missions for a while." And hopefully, she could think of something else for Kakashi to do before he sulked for too long.

**T**wigs snapped against Sakura's body, scratching her skin as she ran by, but small pains like that couldn't stop her. She wasn't going to stop. She wasn't going to let them drag her home. She couldn't go back to Konoha. They would all ask her. They would all want to know why she left, why she was running from them. And even she didn't know the answer. How could she answer them when she didn't even know why she was running?

Sakura's body froze at the top of a hill, as her eyes fell on the misshapen circular town below. It was luck. It had to be luck that she came across a place like this. In the distance, the ruins of a magnificent structure stood out against the only buildings visible in the green trees of Hi no Kuni. It was the perfect place to hide from her pursuers.

**End Chapter 6**

---------------------------

Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

I found something interesting, so I'm sharing it with everyone. The uses of "over" and "more than," and "under" and "less than." I know it's confusing if I just say it like that so here are some examples. "Over ten boxes of cup ramen were crammed in Naruto's unused bedroom," is a colloquial sentence. This means that the grammatical use of "over" is only correct in spoken English. For written English—ie formal and informal English—use "more than." In other words, "More than ten boxes of cup ramen were crammed into Naruto's unused bedroom," is preferred. The same goes for "under" and "less than." "Anything less than ten would have been a shock to Sasuke," is preferred over "Anything under ten would have been a shock to Sasuke." I hope that was comprehensible.

Fire's babbling:

Fire: O.O

Sasuke: Nani?

Fire: You…made Sakura…jump off a cliff.

Sasuke: So?

Fire: You're trying to kill Sakura.

Sasuke: She can't die anyway. She's around for _Wait for Me: Following_.

Kisame: (wiping Samehada) Who cares! She can't die.

Fire: But using a wet cloak as a parachute?

Kisame: (throws bloody towel to the side and picks up a clean towel) Keeps the air from escaping through the holes. And it's huge. Makes sense to me.

Sasuke: You just didn't like that I made all the others jump after her too.

Kisame: Makes sense too.

Fire: Everything makes sense to— (stares at a bloody Samehada) Did you go killing without me?

Kisame: I have friends other than you!

Fire: Waah! You said you'd take me along!

Sasuke: Fire isn't sane right now. Please send in your reviews and tell us what you thought about this chapter.

Fire: I'm taking your sword away!

Kisame: You can try! Samehada doesn't let anyone else hold him!

Fire: You care about your sword more!

Kisame: Of course I do!

Sasuke: If you send in your reviews, Fire might actually become a little less insane.

Fire: Samehada! I'm going to rip you apart!

Kisame: That doesn't make sense! It's a sword! You're jealous of a sword!

Sasuke: (sighs) Ja.

---------------------------


	8. Seven: Dreams of Snakes

Kisame: Fire's saner now. Don't duck behind your keyboard!

Fire: What are you saying? I'm always sane.

Sasuke: Fire really doesn't remember psychotic episodes.

Fire: What psychotic episodes?

Kisame: None whatsoever.

Fire: …?

Sasuke: Resumes?

Fire: Hire the next person and get it over with!

Tobi: Tobi's a good boy.

Fire: – –;; I'm not too sure about this.

Kisame: Didn't we interview you before? No!

Sasuke: Hire the next person?

Fire: Okay! We'll give him a try! (annoyed) Hand me a review!

Tobi: (pulls out the Big Bag of Reviews and hands the review window to Fire) …

Fire: Wow! He's good!

Sasuke: (unimpressed) The job's not that hard.

Fire: Let's keep him!

Kisame: No!

Fire: I'm keeping him anyway. (nods resolvedly) Tobi's staying until we decide to fire him.

Sasuke: Tobi, you're fired.

Fire: Hey! I make those decisions around here! (hits Sasuke with the review window and accidentally closes it) Tobi! Another review window!

Tobi: (pulls an extra window from the bag and hands it to Fire) …

Fire: And that is why the Bag of Reviews is so heavy even though it only has one window. There are many copies of the same window, just in case it closes. Now to address some concerns!

Sasuke: What kind of an idiot won't find the death of a teammate traumatizing!

Fire: But kDanthe-san thinks it's weird that Sakura's focussing on Naruto's death instead of yours. Naruto's blood is covering her hands instead of yours.

Sasuke: Read this chapter! There's an explanation right there! (points annoyedly at Chapter 7)

Fire: And I think I already said that I am going to continue this sidestory, so if anyone's still fearing that I'll stop in the middle of it, don't worry! I just had a few problems with Golden Week, but that's all!

Kisame: I don't want this samurai doll. What kind of good luck can it give me anyway?

Sasuke: I'll trade my carp streamers for your samurai doll. (holds up his carp streamers)

Kisame: Are you making another fish joke?

Fire: And as for you! (turns to Sekiryu-san) I don't mind when you review as long as your review eventually. That goes for all of you! (looks at everyone) Don't feel embarrassed if you didn't leave a review when the chapter first came up. I won't yell at anyone!

Kisame: Yeah…

Sasuke: …right!

Fire: I don't yell at my reviewers! Anyway, thank you for reviewing! I needed to confirm that people actually want to read this story.

Dengaku: I'm not an OC.

Fire: Yes. If you don't remember him, here's a mind refresher! In Tanzaku Gai, the place where Tsunade drugged Jiraiya's sake was Dengaku's udon shop. He's the guy who apologized to Jiraiya for the late daikon radishes.

Sasuke: And now, we should really have the slaves pull up the next chapter now.

Kisame: (yelling at Tobi) Slave! Pull up the next chapter!

Tobi: (pulls up Chapter 7 on his back)

Fire: We have slaves?

---------------------------

**Chapter 7: Dreams of Snakes**

_**T**he faraway sounds of the town were muffled beneath unconsciousness. Sakura could only hear the sound of rain in her mind, and feel the thickening blood on her hands. Not even the clean rain could wash that blood away. Her body sagged wearily from running, her limbs weighted beneath asphyxiation. Even with the cool air settling around her body, her breath choked her. _

_At her side, Sasuke's motionless form lay, already cold. In front of her, Naruto's bloodied face smiled, peaceful even in death. And as she screamed at him, he refused to wake. As she smashed her fists against his chest, she couldn't stop the dark emotions from filling her body. She couldn't let him die. He can't die! If he died, what did that make her? If he died, what did she gain this strength for? If he died, why was she left behind? Did it mean he loved Sasuke more than she loved Sasuke?_

"_Kuso Naruto!" Sakura screamed, her glowing green hands signifying her need to heal the corpse, even though she was beating black bruises into the cooling body. 'He doesn't love Sasuke more than I do!' She refused to believe it. 'He doesn't!' Red blood splattered across her chest as she frantically tried to beat life into him. 'He can't!' _

"He can't!" Sakura's head pounded as her body flew forwards, shifting away from her bed of rubble. She stared confusedly at the shadows surrounding her. _'What was that?'_ She clutched her head as the sound of rain hitting the remnants of a roof overhead overwhelmed her. She hadn't had this nightmare since she left Konoha two weeks ago. "Naruto..." Sakura stared at her lap, her eyes refusing to look at her hands. In her dream, they were covered in Naruto's blood again, that unwashable blood. Even though she didn't love him, he was still her teammate. His death was traumatizing.

But the visions that haunted her weren't because of that incident. If it was just that, she could live with herself. She wouldn't have to leave Konoha.

"Sasuke-kun..." She would do anything to see Sasuke at that moment. Sasuke or Naruto. Either would have been fine. Either one would make her feel better. The man she loved, or the man she hated. She didn't care!

The girl curled into a pink ball at the thought. Hate. She hadn't thought it to herself yet. She hadn't said it out loud, but deep in her heart, she knew that it was true. She hated Naruto. Even though she had tried to like him, to be friendly to him, to really give him a chance, she ultimately hated him. It was too difficult when he had stolen the only man she ever loved, when he stole Sasuke from her.

They were always partnered that way. Naruto and Sasuke. Sakura and Kakashi. They paired in those teams for training exercises, for missions, for any important work. And she had hated it. Even though she had only smiled at the decisions every time, she had wanted to be Sasuke's partner. She had wanted to be the person who knew him better than anyone else. Better than Naruto, even though she knew that it was impossible. No one could know Sasuke better than Naruto.

But she thought she had succeeded. When she convinced Sasuke to go on a date with her, she thought she had found an opening in Sasuke's heart, but it was still filled with Naruto. No matter what, it was Naruto.

And he still haunted her, even after death. His blood refused to wash away from her hands. It stained them, mocking her with its eternal devotion. _'I win. In death, Sasuke and I will be together forever.'_ Because she can never die with them... Because Sasuke didn't want her to go with him... Because Naruto loved him more... Naruto will always stand between her and Sasuke. Even in death, Naruto will be closer to Sasuke than she could ever hope to be.

Sakura buried her face in her hands, hiding her tears from herself. _'I'm horrible.'_ She couldn't stop herself from hating him. Even though Naruto had caught Sasuke's heart fairly, she couldn't stop hating him, because Sasuke loved him. Because Sasuke only loved him. _'Horrible!'_ Sasuke would never love someone like her.

Her ears filled with sudden screaming, shocking her out of her thoughts. Her mind raced around the room, her eyes darting in every direction, searching for any movement, certain that someone had found her. But after a while she realized that it was her own voice. Fear rushed through her body as she pulled her hands away, the red staining her palms covering half her face. "No." She was hallucinating again. She couldn't be seeing _real _blood. "Naruto, leave me alone!" She yelled, her feet stumbling away from the rubble in an effort to remain sane. His blood...her failure to save him, stained her hands.

Sakura ran into the late afternoon rain, her wet cloak clinging to her body, freezing her skin. But even in the thin sunlight, the horrible sticky substance was still there. It clung desperately to her hands. And Sakura could only run, as if she could outrun her hallucinations. She could only run until she collapsed from hunger again.

**N**eji frowned at the town that stretched widely in every direction. All around him, there were only people. Kiba, Akamaru and Lee were gone. As soon as the buildings rose around them, the group ran in all directions, each believing they were closer to Sakura's location than the other, each believing that she was nearby, each believing that their path led to her.

'_Pathetic.'_ Neji shook his head at the lack of teamwork. If he found them, he was definitely going to lecture them about the importance of working together. Again. _'Kiba forgets when he gets excited, and Lee's just not himself.'_ He sighed before releasing his byakugan over the town. He knew that Sakura was here. It was time to find her and go home. _'Where are you, Haruno Sakura?'_

Visions of the town filled his mind. Every person, shop, street and building simultaneously flooded his senses. For a moment, he was overwhelmed with the same sense of helplessness that always filled his body at confronting such a mass quantity of information. Then, the panic subsided, contained by his self-control and the constant knowledge that he could analyse everything easily.

Neji breathed out slowly before combing through everything. Pink hair wasn't too common. It shouldn't be difficult to find her.

**T**he scent of udon bombarded Sakura's senses, confusing her dizzy mind for a moment before a warm bowl was thrust into her hands. Sakura opened her eyes and stared at the bowl of udon. _'Now I KNOW I'm hallucinating,'_ she sighed inwardly to herself. She was so hungry that she was imagining food. Death shouldn't be too far away. _'Sasuke-kun, I'm coming to see you soon.'_

"You're not going to eat it?" The sudden voice startled Sakura, sending her flying back, upsetting the bowl in the man's hand. "It's okay. I have more." He smiled politely as he pushed a second bowl across the small table to her.

Sakura stared at the new bowl in her hand. "I have no money," she said as she looked longingly at it. This place was obviously an udon stand. Even though she was sitting in the back room, she could still see the main shop, and the nearby storage area. Everything looked just like Ichiraku Ramen, except there was no ramen. "Sumimasen." She rose to leave. "Thank you for helping me."

"Leaving in spite of hunger," the man said as he readjusted the grey toque on his head. "I run the stand. There is no need for politeness when you're hungry." He sounded just like Teuchi.

At those words, Sakura bowed her head in defeat. She was too hungry to run from _free food_. "Arigatou gozaimasu, Ojisan," she said as she sat down shakily. If he hadn't said something like that, she would have collapsed on her way out. "Itadakimasu."

"Then, I'll just leave you to your meal. There are customers waiting." And Sakura was left alone.

As Sakura ate, she realized her foolishness for wanting to leave without eating. Not only would she have collapsed, she would have been captured. Even as she ate, Lee's team and Kiba's team were after her. If they found her, she wouldn't even be able to fight. _'When did this happen?'_ She wondered over her second bowl of udon. She didn't know how long it would be before she ate again. When did she become foolish enough to think she could escape without any energy?

But Sakura couldn't answer that question. Hunger had dulled her mind. She couldn't remember such things so easily.

Sakura rose from her seat, her mind cleared of all thoughts of food. With the two empty bowls in her hand, she thought of leaving immediately. If she stayed any longer, Neji or Hinata would definitely find her. _'But I should thank him.'_ This udon shopkeeper had probably saved her from a very tiresome journey. She couldn't leave without saying something to him, without thanking him.

The pink-haired girl reached for her cloak, the dark wet pile draped over the chair. This place where the udon stand's staff ate their meals was considerably less lively than the shop front. She wanted to leave it.

But as she reached for her cloak, Sakura's hand stopped. _'This...'_ She hadn't even realized it. Her hands were bandaged. "A bad omen," she said to herself as she unravelled the red spotted bandages from her hands. As her eyes fell on the blood encrusted half-moon openings in her palms, she knew what had happened. She had dug her nails into her hands while she slept. She had dug so deeply that she bled. _'My pursuers must be close,' _although she hoped she was wrong. Good luck like this, like being found by the shopkeeper of a food stand and having a real meal, or finding a kind person who actually cleaned and bandaged her wounds in spite of having a job to do, were only bad omens for Tsunade-shishou.

As her glowing green hands passed over her palms, Sakura wrapped the cloak around her body, hiding her face before walking to the kitchen, where the shopkeeper stood over the steaming stove. Pursuers. She had to remember that. She had to think of them as other people, not her friends. These were her enemies. They wanted to take her back.

"Ojisan?" She held out the bowls. "Arigatou gozaimasu." She wanted to ask if she could stay and do a few things to thank him for his hospitality, but it was difficult. She had tried before, when she first entered this town, before she came to that ruined castle. She couldn't get a job without some kind of experience. But she couldn't tell them about her experience. She couldn't just tell them that she was a shinobi.

"Dengaku is fine," he said as he took the bowls, familiar words, similar to others from a different food stand owner. "So, traveller-san, where are you travelling to?" The shop was empty. With the rain, there were fewer people on the streets.

"Nowhere," Sakura said, her limbs suddenly heavy. He was a very kind person, too much like Teuchi-san to really make her want to stay. She didn't want to trouble him. "Imai ikimasu. Sayona–"

"A man came searching for a girl with pink hair and a dark green cloak," Dengaku said before Sakura could leave, freezing her in place. "The dog with him was very large."

'_Kiba and Akamaru.'_ But since she didn't wake on Akamaru's back, Neji must not have seen her yet. "Th-thank you for not telling them about me."

'_Waah! Kiba and Akamaru! Akamaru will smell us for sure!'_ Naruto shouted, running in circles around the udon stand.

'_Urusatonkachi!'_ Sasuke grabbed Naruto before he could run another circle around Sakura. _'It's raining!'_ It was impossible for Kiba to sniff out their location.

"Anyway," Dengaku continued as he remembered where he had found Sakura, his word stopping Sasuke before he could continue yelling at Naruto. "You should stay away from the ruins. An evil spirit haunts the building." He smiled warmly at his own words, as if it was a joke. "If you believe in evil spirits."

Sakura's mind blanked at the words. "Evil spirits?"

"A giant snake! It destroyed Tanzaku Castle. Good thing the tourists still come, if only to look at the ruins. The legend's actually _helping _business!" He turned from the stove with a box in his hand. "Take this before you go." He pushed the rectangular container into Sakura's hands.

Sakura stared at the bento. "Dengaku-san," she said slowly as the feeling of overwhelming dire swelled within her chest. They were close. She could feel that they were really close, as if they had cornered her. "Why are you doing this?" All this food…this hospitality…this was highly unusual. "What do you want from me?"

"Nothing," Dengaku said as his eyes darted to a customer walking in from the rain. "Ah, welcome!"

"One order of plain udon, please."

"Coming right up!" Dengaku turned to the stove and dropped a lump of udon into the pot before speaking again. "Any normal person wouldn't leave a haggard traveller lying in the street."

Sakura clutched the bento in her hands as homesick memories of Ichiraku, Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi filled her chest. "Of course," she whispered as she backed away from the man. She should have known that it was only generosity. There was nothing more in those actions other than that this man was as kind as Teuchi. "Sayonara." Sakura faded away before the words could vanish from Dengaku's mind.

**S**akura reappeared at the ruins. Her irrational fear had left her kunai pouch there. She needed to retrieve it before she left. _'Because I can't let them catch me.'_ She couldn't return home now that she had gone this far. They would ask her again. They would ask her all those questions, and she wouldn't have the answers.

'_But they're going to catch you anyway,'_ Sasuke said from her side, already demolishing Sakura's confidence with the first words he had said in awhile. _'You can't get away.'_

'_But Sakura-chan's good at genjutsu! We'll make an illusion and mislead them!'_ Naruto was more optimistic and enthusiastic.

Sasuke glared at Naruto. _'The dobe shouldn't speak,'_ he said coldly.

'_Teme! What did you say!'_

'_I said urusai. That's not even a smart suggestion.'_

'_It was smart! We haven't even tried it yet! You can't say that it won't work!'_ Naruto shouted. Sasuke's constant pessimism was already grating on his nerves.

As she walked to her kunai pouch, Sakura watched them fight over something so useless. That suggestion...she knew better than Naruto, just like Sasuke. She knew that a genjutsu wouldn't work. But it was still interesting to hear Naruto's argument. He never made any good points.

'_They have the byakugan, Naruto.'_

At that suggestion, Naruto could only glare at Sasuke. _'That has nothing to do with it.'_

'_That has everything to do with it!'_

Sakura hid a laugh at their bickering. It was a good change from yelling at her. But since she was in this town, she needed to get a few things before setting out again. One bento wasn't going to be enough. She really should have asked Dengaku for some work.

'_And you still don't have a destination,' _Sasuke said, as Sakura's sudden movement drew his attention. He already knew what she was thinking–although it was difficult not to know what she was thinking when he was a part of her imagination–and he knew that she wanted to leave again, even though there was nowhere to go.

'_I thought she was coming to see us!'_ Naruto was mistaking again, even though he knew the truth behind that suggestion as much as Sasuke and Sakura did. He knew that no matter how much she wanted to see them, she wasn't going to die. Sakura wasn't that kind of person.

At Naruto's words, Sasuke looked at Sakura with a frown of contempt on his face. _'She can't come.'_ His tone said that he wasn't allowing her to come, rather than that she was too afraid to follow them into death.

'_You don't need supplies to die!'_ Naruto shouted at Sakura, his mind continuing on his private line of thought.

Sakura stared at Naruto, fear filling her body. She didn't say that she was going to _die_! And she was about to correct the blond apparition when the sound of voices stopped her. The pink-haired girl fell back, her body hitting against the ruined wall as her mind raced. _'Neji? Kiba and Akamaru? Lee? Shino? Gai-sensei?'_ It could be anyone. The names all ran through her mind before she heard the voices again.

"Guide-san, what happened to Tanzaku Castle? The legend says that a giant snake crushed it, but that can't be true. There are no giant snakes!"

The pink-haired girl released a sigh of relief at those words. _'Only tourists.'_

"That's true, there are no giant snakes. But witnesses in the area at the time all say that there was a great snake which rose over the castle and crushed it."

"That makes no sense! The rest of Tanzaku Gai is undamaged!"

Sakura grabbed her kunai pouch and strapped it to her leg as the words penetrated her brain. _'Giant snake?'_ Dengaku had said something about a giant snake too.

Darkness enveloped the pink-haired girl as her mind wandered. Her skin froze beneath her thoughts. Snakes. She hated snakes. Snakes had taken Sasuke from her. Snakes had frightened her for the last three years, since the chuunin exams in the Forest of Death. And if they said there was a giant snake, there was only one way it could come here without damaging the town.

'_Orochimaru.'_

"Shannaro." Her voice shook at the memory. While she was agonizing over Sasuke's death, Orochimaru was living happily in his lair. That snake! She couldn't let him get away with it. After stealing Sasuke away, after Sasuke returned, after Sasuke died, he was still living so happily. While she was miserable. She wasn't going to let him live without repentance.

She would make him suffer.

**End Chapter 7**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

I'm going to go right into diction again! Yay! More information on words and vocabulary! Anyway, I used "unwashable" again. If you didn't notice where that was, read the chapter again, but I'm going to be talking about invented words, otherwise known as nonce words or neologisms. In formal writing, avoid them, but in creative writing—like writing fanfics—it's perfectly fine to invent words and put them in the story. But if a word already exists that says the same thing and implies the same thing, use that word instead. The point is to use them as a last resort. Chances are that if there is a nonce word in your work, it will draw attention, the same way that a fragment would draw attention. If what is described isn't something important to the storyline, you may be able to take it out without damaging the rest of the paragraph, or reword it differently. I used unwashable for two reasons. The first reason is that there really is no word in the dictionary to convey the degree of panic and the horrific stickiness of the stain. It's difficult enough trying to describe it without the nonce word. Non-washable doesn't convey the same ideas or emotions. The second reason is that by using this nonce word, I draw additional attention to the horrific properties of the blood and to the scene in general. To avoid using nonce words, check your dictionary and find a good thesaurus. I checked my thesauri for over half an hour, trying to find a word that will fit this situation!

Fire's babbling:

Fire: First, I want to address the questions asked in the first paragraph of this chapter. I really wanted to answer them in the paragraph, but it didn't work with the overall flow within Sakura's mind, so here are the answers.

Sakura: I don't want to know.

Fire: What does that make Sakura?

Sasuke: Useless.

Fire: What did she gain her strength for?

Sasuke: Nothing.

Sakura: (covering her ears) I don't want to know!

Fire: Why was Sakura left behind?

Sasuke: She doesn't love me enough.

Fire: Does that mean Naruto loves Sasuke more than Sakura loves Sasuke?

Naruto: Yes!

Sasuke: (hugs Naruto) Get the SasuNaru warning yet?

Fire: Okay, now that those questions are out of the way…

Kisame: Sakura ran away.

Fire: Review!

Sasuke: I don't care that Sakura ran away.

Fire: Don't interrupt me! (turns to the audience again) Review! I want input! I want to know what you think! I want to know! Tell me something about this story!

Sasuke: Getting desperate?

Fire: Waah!

Kisame: Fire's screaming again.

Fire: Waah!

Kisame: Where's the off button?

Fire: Waah!

Sasuke: (points) There?

Fire: Waah!

Kisame: (presses the _off button_)

Fire: WAAH!

Kisame: It made it worse.

Fire: WAAH!

Sasuke: Then, I don't know.

Fire: WAA— (Kisame hits Fire behind the head) XP!

Kisame: Why does that always work?

Sasuke: That's it! Come back for the next chapter!

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	9. Eight: The Reality of Snakes

Fire: Finally! A fight scene!

Sasuke: Fire likes fight scenes.

Fire: Yay!

Kisame: Okay. Stop being so enthusiastic over it! It's creepy.

Fire: And my explanation of Sakura's hallucinations over Naruto's blood made sense!

Kisame: (yelling at kDanthe-san) What did I say about complimenting Fire!

Sasuke: Great. I don't think we can talk about the reviews today.

Tobi: (sags sadly) No reviews? (holding tightly to the Big Bag of Fire)

Kisame: It's your first day. Slack off a little!

Tobi: …

Sasuke: This is why people hate you, over-enthusiastic baka!

Tobi: (slumps sadly) …

Fire: I'll take the rest of the reviews now. (holds out a hand for the review window)

Tobi: Yes, Fire-sama! (hands the review window to Fire)

Fire: Yay! Well, first, I want to repeat that I am Fire!

Kisame: That's obvious.

Fire: I'm not Sand!

Sasuke: That's Fire's younger sister.

Fire: We're two people. I'm Fire no Kumo. Call me Fire, or call me Kumo. Kumo's my real name. My mother named me that, so don't think that it's just some weird wannabe thing. – –;;

Sasuke: I think you just offended some people.

Fire: Waah! (hugs Kisame) And I love Kisame! Feel free to tease him about it.

Kisame: Hey! Why are they teasing me!

Fire: Because I could care less!

Sasuke: Fire always thought outside the universe.

Fire: Other than that, thank you for all the reviews! I love reading them!

Sakura: No! I can't do that, Rikki-san! I will love Sasuke forever! Itsumo! Itsumo Sasuke-o suki!

Sasuke: That's disturbing.

Fire: … (reads Rikki-san's review again) Um…yeah. I like using hallucinations to explain things. They really help me get around tough areas of the story like this. – –;; But there are only three kinds of hallucinations in this series. The first set is in the prequel, _Wait for Me: Crystalline Mirage_. Search for it if you want to. In that one, Naruto's hallucinating. But it's original! I swear it is! Read it if you want a good SasuNaru to pick you up. It's nowhere as dark as this fic. The second set is in the second book, _Wait for Me: Following_. Sakura's hallucinates twice in that one. The first time is forced on her. The second one is just because she slipped away from reality, but it doesn't go deeply into insanity like this story. The third set is this set of hallucinations. If you've read this far, you know what hallucinations I'm talking about. Each set is different. I don't like using the same kind of hallucinations over and over again. They get boring, so if you really like this insanity thing, read them. I'm working on a different kind of insanity for Sasuke in the third book, which I'm writing at the moment, loading at the same time as this one, _Wait for Me: Searching. _I guess I use insanity a lot, but there are different degrees of madness. This book has the deepest insanity of all the books in this story.

Kisame: Stop advertising!

Fire: Just an explanation then! kDanthe-san! Read here! I haven't found a lot of different kinds of madness on this site, so I can't relate to you when you say that Sakura hallucinating over the man she hates is more original than hallucinating over the man she loves. I thought it was natural. Schizophrenia is a personality disorder as well as a mental disorder. Causes can be genetic or environmental. Since I doubt that Sakura has a genetic defect that can result in delusions, I created an environment where she will come to this conclusion. Personality disorders result from intense trauma or stress. The strongest emotions cause more stress and brings about these problems. In other words, her hatred for Naruto is a newer, and hence, stronger, emotion than her love for Sasuke.

Kisame: Now get chapter 8 onto this screen before Fire finds something else to say!

Tobi: Yes, Kisame-sama! (pulls chapter 8 onto the screen)

---------------------------

Disclaimer: The verb "to shunshin" as well as all conjugations and derivatives (ie. I shunshin, you shunshin, he/she shunshins, etc, shunshin-ed, shunshin-ing) belong to Fire. Please don't steal them otherwise I'd have to send Kisame after you!

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**Chapter 8: The Reality of Snakes**

**T**hrough the rain-threatening grey light, Neji's lavender eyes examined the wet pile of wood and stone. From where he stood, his normal sight told him that there was nothing but the ruins. A sane person wouldn't be in such a dilapidated place, but his mind told him she was here. That pink hair and that dark green cloak were unmistakable.

'_Is she in that tour group?'_ From atop the crumbling walls still surrounding the demolished castle, his gaze glanced easily over the mass of heads, but there was no pink hair, no dark green hood. _'No.'_ That meant she was definitely in the ruins. He released the byakugan again as he leapt from the wall to the ground. The tourists stared at his passing body as he ran into the battered building. _'I see her!'_

Neji readied his hands. This time, he wasn't going to let her get away. This time, he was going to seal all her tenketsu. Even if she tried, she wouldn't be able to run.

**S**akura turned at a sudden movement nearby, her eyes locking on the shadows. But there was nothing. It was only her imagination. Again. _'Tanzaku Gai...'_ That was what that tourist had said. Tanzaku Gai. She was in Tanzaku Gai.

'_You're not seriously considering going to Orochimaru, are you?'_ Sasuke's annoyed voice came from nearby. _'That lazy bastard never does anything without my asking.'_ He had demanded training repeatedly, and each time, Orochimaru procrastinated. It was worse than learning from the perpetually late Kakashi.

'_I'd kill him!'_ Naruto shouted.

Sakura stared at the Sasuke apparition. She wanted to say no. She didn't want to go to Orochimaru, but she couldn't stop herself. She wanted to kill him too. She wanted to grab him with both hands and throttle him. "I'm–"

'_Hakke kuushou!'_

The former Konoha kunoichi leapt back as a strong swirl of chakra rushed at her. Her hand flew up, a kunai in its grasp. _'Shannaro!'_ Even with the huge hood on her head, she saw her opponent beneath the ruin's shadowed light. _'Neji!'_

"Sakura," Neji said, his byakugan seeing her face even though his true eyes couldn't see anything but the overlarge cloak. Without hesitation, he rushed forwards. The time for negotiation had passed. She had her chance to explain herself, to listen to reasoning when they found her on that cliff. This time, she will be immobilized before he said anything.

However, before Neji could reach her, Sakura turned and ran, her afterimage fading through the ruin's crumbled walls. She already knew what he was thinking before he did it. _'I'm not letting him–!'_

But Neji was already standing there. His frowning face stared back at her from the exit for a short moment before rushing forwards, his hands raised to attack. _'Hakke Rokujuuyonshou!'_ His hands flew forwards._ 'Hakke! Ni-shou! Yon-shou! Ha-shou!'_

Sakura leapt back, her arms raised against the onslaught of attacks, but even her chakra-augmented speed couldn't match against the speed of the Hyuuga's Hakke. _'No!'_ She remembered clearly what Neji said to Naruto at the chuunin exams three years ago. _'If he closes all my tenketsu, I won't be able to move!'_ She refused to let him take her back. She couldn't go back to Konoha. She can't! "Kuso!" Before he could end his attack, she shunshin-ed away.

'_Rokujuuyon-shou!'_ Neji struck the air. "Che!" He glared frustratedly at the empty air. He should have known she would get away. That girl was too smart to fall for any attack that took almost ten seconds to perform.

But he had closed sixty-two of her one hundred twenty-six tenketsu. She couldn't have gotten far. She had to be outside!

Neji rushed into the street. She had to be hiding somewhere nearby. With half her tenketsu sealed, movement should still be painful. Even if she could run, his byakugan would find her!

'_He knows where I am!'_ Sakura thought as she looked desperately around for any transportation that could get her quickly away. She wasn't stupid enough to hide. Hiding was something Naruto would suggest.

'_Sakura-chan! Hide here!'_

She ignored him. If she hid herself, Neji would be there immediately to capture her. She definitely needed to escape.

"You can't run," Neji said as he appeared directly in front of her, a hand already latched onto her arm. "Stop trying." All this running was annoying him.

But he wasn't the only one annoyed. Anger rushed through Sakura's body as his hand met her skin. "No," she said, her voice distorted with fury, hoarse from prolonged travel. She wasn't going back, not after what she had gone through. She wasn't going to return to the place where Sasuke left her, the place where he chose Naruto. She couldn't face that place again. She couldn't go back to the place that betrayed her heart, the place where she lost the two most important people in her life. "I'm not going!"

Even with half her tenketsu closed, she still managed it. She was good at chakra control. With an angry fist, she knocked Neji back, sending him flying through a wall.

"Not good enough," Neji said as he rammed a chakra-filled hand through Sakura's chest. Sakura looked back in time to feel all the air flee her body, her muscles tense, and the ground catch her. "Now, we should retur–" Neji stared at the pile of clothes on the ground with a frown. She was gone.

And he had no more chakra. After running for half a day, using his byakugan nonstop since he arrived in the town, he had finally run out of chakra. _'Kuso!'_ Such bad luck... He had wanted to capture her today. He guessed it was going to be a little more difficult than that. But being out of chakra didn't mean that he wasn't going to accomplish it today. It just meant that it would take a little longer. He didn't need the byakugan to find wounded prey.

Neji looked around. It shouldn't be difficult to find a girl who couldn't move quickly. If he went in a circular search pattern beginning from his current location, he should be able to find her before she could leave the area.

**J**iraiya giggled to himself as he looked through the telescope in his hand. The onsen was perfect for research. "People can see you, Jiraiya-sama," Kakashi said as he looked down at the white-haired man crouching on the tree branch. Below, the villagers who had passed directly under the tree stared, wondering what Jiraiya was doing.

"It's important research, Kakashi!" He said as he glanced away from his telescope to look at the grey-haired jounin. "Why are you here? You just came out of the onsen." He had seen Kakashi go in, and he had seen Kakashi come out. It was uncommon to see someone spend two hours in the bath. "Spying now that you've relaxed a little?"

The masked jounin stared at the man. _'Was he watching me?'_ Jiraiya was even more perverted than he pretended to be. "Uh...no," he said as he reached into his kunai pouch. "Hokage-sama said she wanted to see you. Something about a new assignment."

Jiraiya stared at the scroll in Kakashi's hand. He knew exactly what it was. "Ah...shikashi," he said with a smile, "I'm busy! See?" He shook his telescope as if it was important. "I'm working on a new novel of the Icha Icha Series. It's very, _very_ important!"

Kakashi's uncovered eye widened at the news; the light that had vanished since Sakura's disappearance reappeared as soon as he heard Jiraiya's words. _'A new novel?'_ He couldn't drag Jiraiya away from work _that _important! _'A new Icha Icha novel!'_

"If only someone could take over for–"

"I'll do it, Jiraiya-sama!" Kakashi stuffed the scroll enthusiastically into his pack again. "Daijoubu!" He would think of something to say to Tsunade later. "Continue collecting data, Jiraiya-sama!" And Kakashi shunshin-ed away before he could disrupt the Sannin's important work any longer...

...leaving behind a very bewildered Jiraiya. _'What did Tsunade do to him?'_ He wondered for a moment. But as he thought twice about it, he turned to continue his "work." He didn't know what Tsunade did to Kakashi to make him act so strangely, but he wasn't opposed to it. It got _him _out of another gruelling mission.

**K**iba ran through the puddles, purposely splashing the people who had stood in his way. "Out of the way!" He shouted as he ran around two more people, sending waves of water onto their clothes. _'Che!'_ In Konoha, when someone said to get out of the way, people got out of the way. _'Are these people stupid!'_ For some reason, the people in this town just stared like they were idiots.

"Arf!" Akamaru agreed. Kiba had gotten off his back so that they could split the streets between them. It was easier to find a trail when the area he needed to smell was cut by half. "Arf! ArrrRf!"

Kiba grabbed onto Akamaru's fur and leapt onto his back at those words. His partner had found something...and it led them straight to the ruins of Tanzaku Castle.

"Hayaku, Akamaru!" If they didn't get there soon, they would definitely lose her trail. The sky was threatening to rain again.

**I**t was close, too close. Sakura coughed, reddening her hands as she stumbled forwards, marking the walls where she had passed. _'I was stupid!'_ She had thought she had time to get away, just because she had sent him flying. She forgot that Neji was a jounin. He knew Shunshin no Jutsu, like the rest of them. It wasn't going to be easy to get away from a man who could see where she was, _and _get to where she was instantly.

She raised her hand, the green light of Sousen Jutsu flickering as she focussed her chakra for healing. Medical jutsu was already difficult. With half her tenketsu sealed, it was even more difficult to control her chakra. But she could manage. She had to manage this! She refused to give up!

"Arf!"

As Akamaru jumped on Sakura, she collapsed, her hand still pressed against her chest, healing the wound within her body. She looked up at the huge white dog for a moment before flattening her hands against his chest and hurling him away. _'Akamaru, gomen!'_ She ran, her hands tightening the hood around her face. She couldn't let them know that it was her. She couldn't let them know, because if they knew for sure, they would never give up. _'Stop following me!'_ She just wanted to leave, to be left alone so that she could kill that man. So that she could kill Orochimaru. And Akatsuki. If it wasn't for Akatsuki, Itachi wouldn't have been so difficult to kill. Sasuke would have returned to her. Sasuke could have stayed with her! _'Damn them all!'_ She hated them. She hated them more than she hated Naruto.

"Sakura-san!" Lee's shout came from above. He had seen her!

Sakura grabbed his arm and smashed him against the wall as he reached for her. _'No!'_ No one can stop her. She won't allow anyone to stop her. Not even Lee.

"It's your fault, Orochimaru." She fell into Hell as soon as Orochimaru came to their village. "You did this!" He killed Sasuke. He made her leave the village. He made her hurt Lee. "I hate you!" He made her hate Naruto. "I will kill you!" No matter what happened, she had to kill him. She will kill the snake that tried to eat her.

**End Chapter 8**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Another interesting thing I found! The verb "aggravate" only means "to irritate" or "to annoy" in informal speech (colloquial English). In writing, it means "to intensify" or "to make worse." – –;; I'm glad I never use this word, not even in speech. But if you use it, remember its written meaning. If you're writing anything that includes grades or money, it's better to use a different verb.

Fire's babbling:

Sakura: What kind of a chapter was that!

Lee: Ow…Sakura-san…

Neji: I could have defeated her!

Fire: Yes, Neji has been using his byakugan non-stop in order to find Sakura. If Hinata would only arrive…

Hinata: Ano…gomen nasai, Fire-san. The cliff…

Fire: That's okay!

Sasuke: That's Fire-sensei! We're writers!

Hinata: O.O;;; Fire-sensei!

Kisame: I don't care about any of this. Let's just move on with the story!

Fire: No, that's for next chapter. Wrong script!

Sasuke: Now we have to write a new one.

Fire: Well, we're experiencing some technical difficulties. While we fix these problems, please review. Review and tell us what you thought of this chapter. I really wanted to have more fighting in it, but it just didn't turn out that way. (hugs Kisame for comfort) Do something about it, Kisame!

Kisame: What do you want me to do! I can't do anything! I'm dead!

Fire: Oh, yeah. I killed him. Well, at least leave a review. It'll be proof of your existence. You want to exist, don't you!

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	10. Nine: Mushi

Fire: Almost the end now! I know it doesn't seem like it, but it is.

Sasuke: This ties right into the beginning of _Wait for Me: Following_ so don't blame us if it ends on a cliffhanger. We already warned you at the beginning of this story.

Fire: Time for reviews!

Tobi: (pulls the Big Bag of Reviews into the window) I think the bag got bigger, Fire-san.

Fire: Really?

Tobi: (nods) Can I close some of these windows?

Kisame: …

Sasuke: Are you an idiot? If you close them, we won't be able to read them!

Tobi: But they all say the same thing!

Fire: Maybe one?

Sasuke: Carry them!

Fire: Just hand me one.

Tobi: I have one window that has all the reviews in it, then there are all these individual windows with one review on them each! Can't I just close the windows that have individual reviews? Fire only reads from this one anyway! (holds up a review window)

Fire: I'll take that! (grabs the review window)

Sasuke: Stop bloating Fire's ego! I can almost see it!

Fire: You _cannot _see my ego!

Kisame: (swipes the air with Samehada) …

Fire: Stop trying to cut my ego!

Sasuke: That was a horrible fight scene!

Fire: It was really short.

Neji: You're blaming it on me, aren't you?

Fire: And Sakura was very limited. If she had used any of her abilities, they would know that it was her.

Sakura: I hate you all! (stares at Sasuke) Except for you, Sasuke-kun. I love you!

Sasuke: I hate this. Just go on with the story!

Naruto: I love ramen! (hugs his cup ramen)

Fire: (yelling to the rafters) Roll chapter 9! (invisible levers slowly pull chapter 9 onto the screen)

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**Chapter 9: Mushi**

**T**he walls surrounding Tanzaku Castle writhed, waved for a moment before collapsing into a black mass. Shino walked forwards, his ocean of tiny bodies undulating unstoppably to their prey. "Shino-kun," Hinata said from his side. "Sakura...Sakura's getting away!"

Shino stared confidently forwards at the vacant street, unaffected by the ominous emptiness. "Shinpainai. She can't escape my bugs."

But even though he had said not to worry, Hinata was still needlessly worrying. She was always worrying. After finally getting down from that cliff, they had rushed all the way here to get Sakura. The thought of losing the pink-haired girl's location was more than enough to shake her overanxious nerves. And not even Shino's calmness could ease her anxiety.

Shino was glad that he had remembered to put a bug on Neji before he ran away. Akamaru and Kiba smelled them immediately and usually yelled at him for trying to act like the leader of their group. Hinata had one, but she hardly jumped into the fray without notice like the others. As for Lee... Shino never knew that he had to worry about Lee. But this experience had taught him better. Lee was horribly difficult to predict, especially when Sakura was involved. He had to remember to put a bug on Lee next time they had a mission together.

"Lee... When I find him, I'm going to strangle him!" Tenten yelled as she pulled up a crying Gai. Lee's leaving him had taken a toll on his emotions. Gai was useless. "Leaving me with Gai-sensei!" Especially when he was crying like that!

"I thought we were going to trap her," Shino said as his black glasses fell on the elder kunoichi. Tenten had said that she was going to race around and stop Sakura before she could get away. "What happened?"

"Gai-sensei won't stop crying!"

"LEE!" Gai cried, "Why did you run away?"

"Ano..." Hinata stared at Gai. She never thought that a sensei could cry so easily over a student. Kurenai-sensei never cried over _her_! Kurenai-sensei only worried about her progress. "Eto..."

"I'll go with you," Kurenai said to Tenten as she grabbed Gai by the arm. "You stay here!" She threw the crying man onto a bench. "Don't move!"

The chuunin stared at the woman sensei. Kurenai was obviously angry, frustrated by Gai's behaviour. "Kurenai-sensei," Shino said, interrupting his sensei's glares and drawing a slightly softer glance to him.

Kurenai turned curiously to the hooded chuunin. "What is it, Shino?"

"Sakura's getting away."

"Hinata!" Kurenai called for the Hyuuga heiress immediately.

"Un! Byakugan!" Hinata's eyes instantly scanned across town, her mind roaming through every room of every building, every alley and every street. "She's–"

"SAKURA-SAN!" Lee's shout deafened all their ears. "Yamete kudasai!"

"Lee!" Tenten vanished from the group. "Baka!"

Shino stared out at the deserted paths below them, his hood slowly moistening with sweat. "She's that way," he said as he glanced at Hinata. After asking her to use her byakugan, he felt guilty for not having heard her words. "Gomen, Hinata. You wanted to help."

"D-daijoubu," Hinata said softly, her face shrouded in mild pain. She really _had _wanted to help, but there was nothing she could do about Lee's shout now that they had heard it. "We should get Sakura now."

**T**sunade stared at Kakashi as thoughts of revenge ran through her mind. She had told Jiraiya that this was important, that he had to take this mission, and what did he do? He sent Kakashi to fill in for him! _'And it's probably for something stupid too!'_ Like spying at the onsen. "Well..." she said aloud as she stared at the masked shinobi. She _was _trying to think of something else for him to do, and since she probably wouldn't find anyone more qualified than the Copy Ninja for something like this, she should just send him. "Did Jiraiya tell you what this was about?"

Kakashi stared at the woman. "He said that it wasn't a mission," he said casually. He really believed it. "It's just an errand, right?"

The blond woman couldn't believe it. _'Jiraiya! I'm going to kill you!'_ Of course it was a mission! "Ah, no," she said slowly, incredibly calm in spite of the rage within her chest. She wasn't sure how to explain the situation to Kakashi. "It's a mission." But she decided to be blunt. Whatever she said, it was going to be the same message, and she would rather not confuse Kakashi or herself.

The grey-haired jounin stared at the Hokage. "No. It's best that you find someone else," he said slowly as the thoughts ran instantly through his mind. This was a mission meant for Jiraiya. Someone like him...someone who couldn't do anything right, someone who couldn't even hold his team together, someone who couldn't even bring himself to go after one little girl...couldn't possibly take over for one of the Legendary Sannin! No. It wasn't possible. "There are other shinobi much better suited to take over for Jiraiya-sama." Someone who wasn't him would have the strength to go after Sakura.

"When Sasuke returned from Orochimaru," Tsunade said slowly, her words darkening around Orochimaru's name, "he brought the locations of almost a hundred different hideouts." She handed them to Kakashi. "I was going to send Jiraiya to search for Orochimaru's current location and continue to monitor his activities. It's something he was interested in since Orochimaru left." Tsunade remembered Jiraiya's exact reasons for leaving Konoha, the real reason he left, the permission from the elders he had begged endlessly for. After that fight with Orochimaru that ended in the pale sannin leaving the village, Jiraiya was obsessed with hunting him down. "At least, do this until Jiraiya's no longer occupied." Tsunade sighed. _'This should give me some time to think of something else to do.'_ There was no chance of a fight if he was only monitoring the sannin. Kakashi shouldn't be in danger. Anything other than direct confrontation with Orochimaru, the jounin should be able to handle. After all, he was the Copy Ninja. He was a formidable Konoha-nin.

But Kakashi's hands were still shaking as he took the mission assessment. "Y-yes," he said slowly, not sure if he should be saying it. But he couldn't turn down Tsunade's request. This wasn't just something she was trying to use to occupy his time. This was an important mission. If he didn't do this, there probably wouldn't be anyone else outside the ANBU who could do it...even if he said otherwise. "I'll do my best, Hokage-sama."

**O**nly the sound of her footsteps vibrated through the empty labyrinth of walkways that surrounded Tanzaku Castle. Here, the streets were deserted except for the rare tourist group, and the tour group was back at the castle. Sakura knew that they were back there, so she couldn't stop herself from turning and looking back every two steps, wondering who that presence following her was.

Her steps quickened, carrying her down the paths as thunder rumbled overhead. The sky wanted to rain again. Soon, she could hide herself from the adept noses behind her. All that was left were the white eyes that watched her and the black hands that wanted to drag her away.

The millions of black hands threatening to drag her back.

"Shannaro!" Sakura's eyes fell on the mass of black bugs blocking her way. _'Shino no mushi!'_ She should have known. Kiba and Akamaru were in town. The rest of their team had to be nearby too. Shino was nearby, and so was another pair of white eyes watching her from afar.

Her head throbbed with pain as her breath choked her, filling her mouth with blood for a moment before she coughed it to the ground. Neji's attack had left her body in worse shape than she had thought. The sensation of chakra cutting through every cell in her body still lingered. The pulse of his hand still irritated her chest. It constantly reminded her that she was weak. Half her tenketsu were sealed. Even the control of her chakra was affected.

'_It'd be so simple,' _she thought as she looked at the swarming mass of black insects. She could easily throw herself into that pile and let them eat her chakra. As soon as all her chakra was gone, she would die. Or more likely, they would leave her weakened until they came to capture her.

But Sakura refused to let that happen. She couldn't just go back to Konoha. She had something to do now, a goal and a destination. The locations of Orochimaru's hideouts that Sasuke had brought back with him were still in her mind. She could find him, force him to–

She didn't know what she was thinking! Force him to do what!

Sakura adhered as much chakra as she could to her legs and leapt into the air, over the walls and onto the roof of a nearby building. Her hands scraped against singles as she skidded to a stop. She had sent herself far enough so that the bugs couldn't reach her. She was safe for now.

"Sakura-san! Yamete kudasai!" Lee's shout came from above as the green apparition crashed onto the roof. He had seen her fly through the air. He had come after her, again. Even though he couldn't see her face beneath that huge hood, he still believed that it was her. "Sakura-san."

The hooded figure backed away from the chuunin. "You have the wrong person," Sakura said with her travel-worn voice. "Look more closely next time." She turned before Lee could look any closer and see the lies covering her face.

"Gomen..." Lee said slowly, his eyes blinking as he tried to remember if he had seen pink hair or not.

"Sakura!"

"...nasai?" The green-clad chuunin's eyes widened, his hand flying forwards to grab the girl's shoulder as she tried to run from that voice. "Uso! Sakura-san!"

"Lee! Don't let her get away!" Neji's shout came from below. He had seen Lee jumping through the air and had run instantly there. "It's Sakura!"

All her emotions drained from her body at the accusation. _'It's Sakura!'_ "No!" Her hand latched onto Lee's arm, twisting it around to shield her body from Neji's sight. "I'm not that person!" She had to deny it. If she didn't deny it, they would take her back. They would take her back to that horrible place again, that horrible place where Sasuke would never return. That horrible place where not even her sensei would comfort her.

But Sakura's strength with half her chakra was only equal to Lee's. The green-clad chuunin pushed himself from the ground, dragging Sakura into the air as he untwisted himself from that painful position. Without thinking he twirled around, grabbing onto Sakura's arm. _'Konoha Shoufuu!'_ He kicked Sakura in the head before she could pull herself away.

"Che!" Sakura flipped through the air, landing on the wall before stumbling onto the roof again, her hand holding tightly to the hood as it threatened to fly off and reveal her face. _'Shannaro!'_ If she wasn't careful, Lee would unhood her, and they definitely wouldn't leave her alone after that.

Her throat dried momentarily as blood filled her nostrils. Sakura bent over as air choked its way through the thin membrane coating the back of her mouth. She couldn't breathe.

"Sakura-san!"

Lee ran forwards, catching the pink-haired girl's attention immediately. She rammed her fist through the wall at her side, sending it crashing onto Lee, and to Neji below. If she wasn't careful, she would fall, and Neji would be there to catch her. He couldn't climb up these vertical walls without chakra, but he could still wait for Lee to knock her down.

'_Kakashi-sensei...'_ Sakura thought as a dizzy lightness filled her mind. At a time like that, when her body had become a massive weight, threatening to drag her to oblivion, when she was about to return to a living hell, where she would return to a waking nightmare without hope of ever seeing Sasuke again, she could only think of Kakashi. Naruto was where he belonged, at Sasuke's side, even in death. As for her...where was her partner? Where was the man she was trained to depend on in her time of need? Why wasn't Kakashi here to help her fight these men? Because surely, Naruto had followed Sasuke to protect him.

"Traitor."

Lee glanced confusedly at Neji. Traitor? He had no idea what she was saying. "Sakura-san?"

"Traitor!" Sakura leapt forwards, chakra filing out of whatever tenketsu she had left to smash her fist against Lee's body. The surprised chuunin collapsed at the blow. "Kuso..." she choked again, blood speckling the air with each cough. "...Kakashi!" She looked down at Lee before deciding to leave. Shino's bugs were nearby. Shino and the rest of their teams shouldn't be too far away.

**N**eji's eyes narrowed irritatedly as Lee fell to the ground. "Che!" He looked around, searching for a way to the roof. If he didn't act soon, Sakura would get away. If he didn't act soon, he would fail his mission. And he couldn't allow that to happen. He refused to fail a mission just because that girl was being obstinate!

"Neji!" The Hyuuga turned, his body flying off the ground as Kiba grabbed him by the arm. Pain threatened to yank out every one of his arm muscles before he found his face buried in Akamaru's back. "We'll catch her, Akamaru!" Kiba's enthusiastic voice shouted over the air, deafening Neji.

"Don't yell in my ear," Neji said as he straightened himself on the dog's back. _'How irritating.'_

But thanks to Kiba's help, the Hyuuga could already see Sakura. That dark green cloak could hide her in the forest, but surrounded by bright buildings, it served as a beacon to his natural eyesight. He didn't need the byakugan to see where she was.

However...

"Sakura-san!"

...as Lee came leaping onto the roof, Akamaru skidded to a stop before he could crash into the chuunin. Neji fell from the huge dog's back onto the tiles. And when he looked up again, Sakura was gone.

**End Chapter 9**

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Don't ask where I get these, but I found another interesting grammatical tidbit. Both hanged and hung are acceptable for the past and past participle of "to hang;" however, there are two very different meanings to be aware of. The verb "to hang" as in "hanged" is used with reference to executions or suicides. The verb "to hang" as in "hung" is used to refer to everything else. --;; So a picture is hung. A prisoner is hanged. ;; I wouldn't want to confuse to two.

Fire's babbling:

Fire: First, I want to make it clear. When Sakura said Kakashi instead of Kakashi-sensei, it wasn't a typo or a mistake. She was consciously changing her speech to not sound like herself. If this was in Japanese, it would be easier to show it with their wide range of synonyms, but I decided that this is the best way to show that difference.

Sasuke: You're an idiot.

Fire: I am not!

Kisame: (bored) Just get on with what you want to say. I don't want to stand here all day. There are people waiting for me to kill them.

Fire: There are people _waiting_ for you to _kill_ _them_?

Sasuke: Not literally!

Fire: Oh! Ask me about the title of this chapter! Ask me! Ask me!

Kisame: The readers don't want to know why it's called mushi when there are no mushi in the story.

Shino: There are actually more bugs in the next story.

Fire: Waah! I want to talk about why I chose it!

Kisame: Save it for someone who cares.

Fire: (hugs Kisame tightly) You've become so cold. What happened?

Kisame: I was always cold. Stop hallucinating.

Sasuke: Fire likes in weird universes. Don't even try dragging other worlds into your conversations.

Fire: Waah!

Kisame: Send a review. Tell us if you want to know more about this title. (sighs) I don't want Fire to explain mushi to anyone. Stupid Japanese metaphors!

Sasuke: Just send a review and tell Fire to get more sleep. We've had enough of this hyperactive behaviour.

Kisame: I'd hate to know what it's like when Fire's _really_ tired.

Fire: Super-hyperactivity! Beyond weariness is super-hyperactivity! I was fuelled through high school with this energy!

Kisame: Just stop hugging me.

Fire: I'll see you all next chapter! I'm going to end the fighting and move on with the storyline! (runs away to find more paper)

Kisame: You type them on the computer now, baka!

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	11. Ten: Oto no Sato

Fire: Last chapter!

Sasuke: (unenthusiastic) Yay.

Fire: Be more enthusiastic!

Sasuke: I hate you.

Fire: Sasuke's cranky because he can't torture Sakura anymore.

Sasuke: (crazed) I want to hurt her more!

Fire: Anyway, I already said this book ends on a cliffhanger, so don't kill me! If you want some closure, read the epilogue as well, but the epilogue sets up for the book chronologically after this, _Wait for Me: Following._

Naruto: Now, a word from our sponsors!

Sasuke: (holding up a scroll) Summoning scrolls! When you don't want your bento squished, pick up a summoning scroll. Guaranteed to keep your food fresh and intact!

Fire: Isn't that what a refrigerator is for?

Kisame: In your home. (summons an onigiri) Nukenin use this often to store food on the go.

Fire: …

Tobi: Reviews?

Fire: (happy) kDanthe-san, my constant reviewer! Thank you so much for reviewing!

Sasuke: That's it? How pathetic.

Fire: It's a story focussing on Sakura that doesn't really go anywhere. What do you expect?

Sasuke: More reviewers?

Fire: Anyway, minna-sama, arigatou for reading! (slaps chapter 10 onto the screen)

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Warning: I made an edit. I realized that I said "Ha-shou" in chapter 8 for Neji's attack. I actually meant "Hachi-shou," eight hands. The "I" is silent so I was confused when he said it the first time. Neji! You sabotaged me on purpose! Anyway, I'll be editing that part, so if you were confused when you read it, there's the explanation.

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**Chapter 10: Oto no Sato**

**R**andom thoughts ran through Sakura's mind as she stumbled away. Thoughts about Sasuke. Thoughts about Naruto. Thoughts about Kakashi. Thoughts about the people pursuing her. And thoughts about Orochimaru. They all bundled together in a congruent ball so that she couldn't discern one from another. The mass sat at the bottom of her mind, a lump against the throbbing pressure in her chest, threatening to burst her ribs open. And not even the hand she pressed against her breast could hold it back. Neji had intended to stop her. He had really intended to immobilize her, even if she died in the process.

As a result of his attack, her healing abilities were horrible in comparison to what it should be. She had sacrificed her chakra for manoeuverability, draining the energy from her body. And her movement wasn't even a part of what she had hoped it would be. The smallest motion weighed for an eternity before stopping. Blood tainted her senses. Her hands, her mouth, her nose, and her mind filled with the stench of blood. Her own blood.

And her enemies were relentless.

A black glove of bugs flew across the air in a deadly wave, crashing into Sakura's path before she could go too far. The wave sprayed in all directions, drenching the castle walls, and pooling on the ground around her, and as Sakura turned to where she had come before, they covered her exit. She was surrounded.

Sakura pushed herself back, away from the black wave crashing against her feet before recoiling. If she had allowed them to touch her, they would definitely eat what was left of her chakra. She wouldn't be able to move. She wouldn't be able to run anymore. _'I prefer facing Neji,'_ she thought as her eyes locked cautiously onto the teeming mass of disgusting insects. At least she had a chance of defeating Neji. She couldn't even touch these attackers.

She turned, her panicking eyes scanning the streets, the rooftops, all the surfaces around her for a sign of black sunglasses and dark hood. She needed to find Shino, the man controlling the bugs, because she couldn't just step on the tiny black bodies without stopping their master. Shino would just continue sending them after her. He had an endless supply with his Mushi Yose no Jutsu.

And neither her taijutsu nor her genjutsu were going to work against bugs. If only she had more ninjutsu...like Sasuke's katon to flame the insects.

But she couldn't see Sasuke anywhere. Both Sasuke and Naruto had vanished.

"Lee! Baka!" Tenten's annoyed voice sliced through the air, distracting Sakura's mind from its search. The shout was close. Lee, Tenten, and Neji weren't far.

She was still surrounded.

"Sakura," Hinata said as she appeared behind the pink-haired girl. Shino said he had trapped her not far from Tanzaku Castle with his Mushikabe no Jutsu, but there wasn't actually a wall of bugs around her. "Kofuku shinasai!" Her byakugan already revealed the erratic flow of chakra within Sakura's body. Half her tenketsu were sealed. Surrendering had to be Sakura's only choice.

Sakura's green eyes stared at the quivering kunoichi. Hinata was more afraid of her than she was of Hinata. Sakura almost laughed. But even as nervous as she was, the blue-haired girl would definitely know who she was if she heard her voice, even if Sakura's voice croaked with weariness and continuous travel, even if Hinata could see her with the byakugan.

"Did you actually expect me to surrender?" Sakura said slowly, her oversized hood shielding her smile from the Hyuuga heiress's true vision. Her voice still croaked as she spoke. "Because..." Sakura moved forwards, grabbing the blue-haired kunoichi's shaking arm with an irritated hand. "...I'm not going to surrender!" The hooded figure threw Hinata over the black sea of insects, landing her on a platform of bugs. Sakura jumped onto Hinata's prostrate body before continuing away.

If water was rising around her, she only needed to create a stepping stone to leave the river's centre.

But the flood of insects was relentless. They cascaded through the streets, crashing against sharp corners as Sakura ran. She was close. She remembered the trees ahead. A few more blocks and she would be able to hide again. She was almost there!

And Sakura vanished into the thick horizon of trees.

**T**he wave of insects crashed against the trees, spilling aside as Shino struggled to keep his eye on Sakura, but she was already gone. "Hinata!" Shino called for his teammate. "Where is she?" The bugs chattered around him, telling him of their lost comrades, the blue-haired girl that had almost drowned in their black sea, and for a moment, he worried that they had eaten her.

"Ano..." Hinata pulled a bug out of her long hair as she appeared slowly at the edge of the trees. "I..." She shook with effort as she summoned her chakra. Then, she tried to summon her chakra again. "Gomen," she said with a deep sigh. "Shino-kun, gomen." She couldn't activate her byakugan anymore. The bugs had eaten most of her chakra before she finally swam out.

"..." Shino didn't know what to say to such a response. The bugs had already told him why her byakugan wasn't working. He didn't want her to remind him that she was out of chakra because... He just didn't want her to remind him! And she was too afraid to tell him. She shook uncertainly at his side. "Daijoubu. There's a bug on her." Luckily, one had fallen on her as he had her cornered with his mushikabe. His problem wasn't Sakura. He was worrying over his bugs eating all of Hinata's chakra. She would have to tell him about it sooner or later, but he didn't know what to do about their awkward problem. At least he could ease their awkwardness with that statement. There was a bug on her. He could put off the search, and the words he knew she had to say to him. There was no urgency.

"Sakura-san!" Lee ran up with his apparent enthusiasm, even as he crashed into a tree. He peeled himself off before turning around, his black eyes searching for any sign of pink hair. "Sakura-san?"

"If it wasn't for you, I'd have caught her already!" Neji shouted, annoyed that Lee was so blind that he couldn't even see that Sakura wasn't there. And if Lee hadn't crashed right into Akamaru, he would have her in his hands at that moment. _'Kuso!' _He didn't like failing missions. "Hinata-sama, find him with your–" The brown-haired shinobi stopped as Shino's shaking head drew his attention. If Hinata could find Sakura with her byakugan, she would have done it by then. They wouldn't be standing at the edge of the trees. They would be in the forest, chasing after her.

"We lost Sakura?" Kiba said from atop the huge white dog, "Then it's up to us, Akamaru! We'll sniff her ou–"

But with a last rumble, the rain broke through the slate of clouds and fell, drenching everything beneath the sky.

"You were saying?" Neji said, unimpressed as he turned back to the town. Their efforts were useless. He knew that she was gone. They had no way to find her in that endless stretch of trees. "We still need to get Gai-sensei." They had left him on a bench near Tanzaku Castle.

"GAI-SENSEI!" Lee shouted as the name drew his mind back to his sensei. He bolted toward Tanzaku Castle again. He had forgotten all about Gai! "Gomen nasai! Gai-sensei!" How could he have forgotten about Gai!

"Did I mention that I have a bug on her?" Shino said to Neji as they watched Lee fly through the air and vanish long before he could hear those words.

"If you had done it when he was around, Lee would have run in the opposite direction." They would have lost Lee in the forest instead of losing Lee in Tanzaku Gai.

"Then it's a good thing I didn't," Shino said as he walked back to the town. The last thing he wanted to do was run after Lee again. "We'll resume after a brief rest." If they didn't continue immediately, Sakura would still be out there. And he could avoid Hinata's words for a little while longer.

**K**akashi's mind dwelled on Sakura. Again. Even as his body flew through the trees toward one of the many compounds Sasuke had brought back with him, he couldn't stop himself. She was still missing. And as her sensei, he worried about what she was doing, what she could be doing. His mind only brought up the worse situations.

'_No! I must focus!'_ Even if he wanted to run after her, this was an important mission. If it was anything else, he could leave it and go after her. The client would understand.

But S-ranked missions like this had no clients. They were for the safety and security of the village.

Kakashi sighed. This was a horrible place to come to his senses. This was a horrible place to realize that he wanted to search for her too. That he had to do it too! Sakura would listen to him! If he was there, the search couldn't possibly fail!

However, that was only his egoistic mind thinking. He couldn't possibly contribute that much when there were other, capable shinobi searching for her: Neji, Lee, Kiba, Shino, Tenten, Hinata, even Gai! And Kurenai was there to make sure nothing went wrong. They had sent reports of their progress and all the other teams were recalled. They didn't need any more than two teams to retrieve one girl.

'_So stop worrying!'_ He yelled at himself as the compound came into view. It was the closest one to the Hi no Kuni border. But even so, he could already see that it was deserted. Orochimaru wasn't there. _'Focus on your mission!'_ His trained shinobi mind pulled himself out of his thoughts to the situation at hand.

Orochimaru wasn't here, and he still had dozens of locations in his hands. He might have to go to them all before he found the Sannin.

**S**akura's rain drenched legs finally melted after a long while of running. Her limbs weighed again, but this time with weariness instead of overwhelming hunger. Clouds of white breath hung in her vision as her mind pounded in anticipation of pursuers. They weren't going to stop hunting her. They weren't going to stop until they've caught her, and she was inescapably back in Konoha.

And she couldn't fight them, not if they all came at once. Her body was still depleted of chakra, and she had never faced Neji before. She had no idea how long it would be before her tenketsu reopened. It could be minutes, or it could be months.

Sakura's chest lurched, clenching, choking her as she coughed. Blood caked the sides of her mouth, even as she wiped it. If she had full control of her chakra, she wouldn't be coughing blood; she would have already healed herself. "Shannaro." She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand again before stumbling forwards. She didn't know how close they were, but she was determined to keep fighting, even if they caught her.

'_Sasuke-kun...'_ She called for Sasuke, even though her mind clouded with interminably aching muscles. _'Naruto...'_ She called for Naruto, even though she didn't really want to see him. _'Help me!'_ She called for them even though she knew they weren't really there.

Sakura collapsed as her muscles twisted in her chest, constricting and relaxing with staggering pain at the same time. Mud clung to her body as rain continued falling relentlessly. Blood filled her nose, leaking with each cough, choking her.

"Kakashi-sensei..." She tried not to do it, but she couldn't stop herself. She finally called for him.

She had always called for Sasuke or Naruto. She always thought about Kakashi, but she had never called for him, never when she was in danger or in a painful fight. Not once since they met had she ever called for Kakashi. It was a symbol of her strength, and her independence from him. She didn't need to lean on her sensei to become strong. She didn't need her sensei to know that she should have been Sasuke's partner. She had told herself that she didn't need him to come for her. She never wanted to depend on him when she could have had Sasuke.

But she needed Kakashi now! She needed her partner. Her broken heart was bleeding and she couldn't stop it. She needed him to save her. She needed him to pull her out of the mud and rain, and take her to a place where she didn't have to run away from the people she once trusted, where she could finally stop chasing after people who were still running away from her.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

But he wasn't coming. Even though he could easily find her with his ninken–as easily as Neji with his byakugan–he wasn't coming. Kakashi didn't want to see her. He didn't want to find her. He didn't want to talk to her. He was still in Konoha, and he wasn't coming.

With shaking arms, Sakura plucked her body from the ground, the cold mud clinging to her clothes. Not even the rain could wash the brown paste away. It stained her body, marking her irreversibly. If Kakashi wasn't coming, then she had no other choice.

Deep down, Sakura knew she was waiting. She still thought that Kakashi would come and stop her before she could get there. She hoped he would come and get her. If there was one person who could stop her from going to Oto no Sato, it was Kakashi. Like Naruto and Sasuke, the only person who could understand what was going through her mind was probably her partner.

But without Kakashi at her side, there was no argument against it. Going to Otogakure was the only thing she could do, because she couldn't live like this forever. She couldn't watch Sasuke and Naruto floating relentlessly at her side. She couldn't run endlessly from people she wanted to think were friends, but couldn't help thinking were enemies. She couldn't just suffer continuously, knowing that the ones who had caused this misery were free of the chains of guilt and were carefree in their happiness, at least happier than she.

She wanted to kill them. She wanted to take Orochimaru in her hands and kill him, the cause of all her misery. She wanted to destroy Akatsuki, the ones who made Itachi too strong, so strong that Sasuke died, even as he was killing him.

'_I am an avenger.'_ Sasuke's voice echoed in Sakura's head, but it wasn't right. It didn't sound right. She wasn't an avenger! _'I am an avenger.'_ She wasn't going to kill Orochimaru for vengeance. She just wanted to feel better, to stop this wretched misery marring her heart, chaining her to insanity.

But that was what vengeance was, wasn't it?

'_I am an avenger.'_ Slowly, Sasuke's voice faded into her own. As Sakura turned away from the path to Tanzaku Gai, Konoha, and Hi no Kuni, she was slowly beginning to believe those words...because avenging someone else was far easier to believe than avenging herself. Because her heart clung so tightly to the idea of avenging Sasuke–and even Naruto–that she couldn't bring herself to want to believe it was just for killing Orochimaru, and nothing else.

"Minna-san, gomen nasai," she sighed to the vacant air. She couldn't stop herself. She had to do this. She had to do this before she could continue with her life, because if she didn't kill Orochimaru, she would never be able to live peacefully. The past, her memories, Sasuke and Naruto would haunt her forever. So, even if she became a monster, she would kill him. If she faded into evil, she would kill herself. And if she died, it would only be because she wasn't strong enough.

But she was strong! And if she wasn't strong enough, she would become strong. She swore she would be strong. No one would stop her! Not Sasuke. Not Naruto. And not Kakashi. She had decided. She had decided and she was determined. Akatsuki would fall. And Orochimaru would die. Even if she died in the process.

Sakura pressed her conscience deep into her chest, locking it tightly away so that it couldn't stop her. It pulsed, searching for a way out, but she refused to listen. Her mind was already set. Compassion had already faded from her heart. Konoha was gone. There was only Oto in her mind, and Oto in her hardened heart. She wouldn't allow anything else. There was room for nothing else.

**Chapter 10**

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Moral of the story:

There are many things in life that people want to achieve: love, happiness, friendship, prosperity, strength, a peaceful life…vengeance. But the goals that survive through hardship are ones with strong determination and strong emotions supporting them. Even if the emotion is hatred, as long as it is strong, anything can be sacrificed for that one goal.

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

The last English tidbit! I'm going to give another interesting fact about the modifiers "which" and "that." Okay, it might only be interesting to me, but I'm going to explain the difference between that and which. "That" introduces restrictive clauses only. "Which" can introduce either restrictive or non-restrictive clauses. If you become a grammar obsessed author—and there are some out there who are perfectionists—you can use "which" only for non-restrictive clauses. Now, what are restrictive and non-restrictive clauses? A restrictive clause is a set of information essential to the meaning of the sentence. A non-restrictive clause provides additional information that enhances the sentence, but doesn't change the meaning of the sentence if the clause was there or not. For example, "The blond boy wearing the bright orange clothes was the jinchuuriki," is a non-restrictive phrase containing a non-restrictive clause. "The blond boy, wearing the bright orange clothes, ate ten bowls of ramen," is a restrictive phrase containing a restrictive clause. The difference is that "wearing the bright orange clothes" is necessary in the non-restrictive phrase in order to make sense, while the same information is unnecessary to make sense. It could be taken out of the non-restrictive clause without changing the sentence in any way. Non-restrictive clauses are usually separated by commas while restrictive clauses are not separated at all. So, clauses beginning with "which," which are non-restrictive, are separated by commas, while phrases beginning with "that," which are restrictive, are not separated by commas and are a part of the sentence. That's all! More tidbits in the other stories, but this is the last one for this book! I don't write tidbits for epilogues or prologues.

Fire's babbling:

Sakura: Waah! I really thought Kakashi-sensei was going to come for me!

Sasuke:

Naruto: How can you be so happy after torturing Sakura-chan!

Lee: Sakura-san… (cries)

Fire: This is the last instalment! So, read the epilogue! Read it! I know this story ends on a slight cliffhanger, so you'd want to read the epilogue for proper closure, even if you're not planning to read _Wait for Me: Following_ or _Wait for Me: Searching._

Kisame: Now go and send us a review so you can ignore Fire's endless drabble.

Fire: It's not endless! I'm ending it now!

Sasuke: (annoyed) Then stop now.

Fire: I've stopped!

Naruto: You talked!

Fire: …

Kisame: (pulls Fire away) Ja!

Sasuke: Finally! Some silence!

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	12. Epilogue: The Fate of Snakes

Fire: This is the epilogue, but read it! Read it! You have to read it for closure, even if you're not going to read the book that chronologically follows this one!

Sasuke: It's because the story ends on a kind of cliffhanger.

Fire: (nods) I already warned you all, so don't flame me for it. I repeated myself several times.

Kisame: You talk too much. That's the problem.

Fire: Kisame! Don't yell at me too! (hugs Kisame)

Kisame: Don't hug me.

Fire: I'm going to continue hugging Kisame. Meanwhile, get some closure and read the epilogue! Tobi!

Tobi: (pulls the epilogue onto the screen) …

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**Epilogue: The Fate of Snakes**

**T**he cold autumn air chilled her frozen muscles as Sakura walked steadily toward the hidden entrance. Flanked by trees from all sides, the sunken stone doorway drew absolutely no attention. Her eyes wouldn't have seen these huge, half-buried stones. These steps would have easily eluded her if she didn't already know that they were there. Orochimaru was difficult to find. But she already knew he would be difficult to find, even though she had the locations of dozens of these hidden compounds memorized.

Her legs moved smoothly over the flat terrain, her pace continuous in spite of the pounding anticipation throbbing through her limbs. But she couldn't stop herself now that she was so close to finding him. Even though she was hungry—Dengaku's bento couldn't last forever—from an endless week of travel through unfamiliar terrain, her legs weren't weary without proper rest, and even though she could only strain through her partially sealed tenketsu some control over her chakra, she still managed to walk forwards. Orochimaru was waiting. She didn't know what to say to him yet, but he was waiting for her to kill him.

However, fate seemed to be against it as a green and grey figure appeared, blocking the way before she could walk down the steps into the hideout. _'Grey hair...' _For a moment, she thought it was Kabuto. But as she blinked, her weary eyes cleared of its fogginess to focus on a different face.

'_Kakashi-sensei!'_ Pain stabbed her chest as the face registered in her mind. She hid the urge to cough and choke on the blood pooling on her tongue, coating her lips with liquid crimson. "Step aside!" Sakura looked down, allowing her huge hood to shield her face from Kakashi. She could see him, see that he was there, but it was too late. She was already here. She was already in Oto no Sato. He couldn't stop her anymore. The time for him to stop her had passed. "I have no business with you!" She tried very hard to believe it as her immense strength grabbed the man by the shoulders and tossed him easily aside before continuing towards the steps.

But she regretted using the strength Tsunade had taught her as soon as she heard Kakashi stutter, "S–Sakura-chan!"

At the awkward words, her body froze completely before she could take another step toward the compound's entrance. _'Sakura-chan?'_ But Sakura's frigid body refused to give in. She refused to allow him to drag her back.

It was too late!

"Gomen," Sakura said with a voice saturated with sorrow, holding herself tightly so that she couldn't run to Kakashi and return to a place she no longer belonged. She wanted to go back to Konoha. It would be so easy to go back. But her home was gone. The Konoha in her heart was gone. Sasuke was gone. The world she once knew was gone. There was no turning back.

She had changed. She had become someone else while he was away, while Kakashi was continuing to live his life. She could no longer dig a hole in Konoha to replant her roots.

And she couldn't face him. She couldn't face him as the ugly monster she had become. This hatred and this desire to kill Orochimaru weren't in the person he knew a month ago. It was too late. It was _really _too late. His Sakura didn't have this flat hair. His Sakura didn't have these lifeless eyes. His Sakura didn't scream for murder in her dreams. His Sakura didn't have a heart that soared for Orochimaru's painful death. His Sakura didn't have this blood painting her face. His Sakura didn't have this horrible voice that could only say horrible things to him.

His Sakura didn't exist anymore.

"I don't know any Sakura," she said as she walked down the stairs and out of sight. Her legs refused to quicken its pace in spite of her desire to get away from Kakashi. She _couldn't _make herself move faster. If she had walked any faster, she would have turned around and run back to Kakashi, and to her wretched life in Konoha.

**S**hino frowned at the wet mud at his feet. Beneath the grey sky, his shaded eyes stared for a long moment before pulling the tiny wiggling body from the brown muck. "S-Shino-kun?" Hinata could see the black bug between her teammate's fingers, but her mind was only beginning to discover what it really meant.

However, Neji's mind wasn't quite as slow. "You lost her, didn't you?" He voice tinged with annoyance at the outcome. He could see the shameful bug in Shino's hand, and it filled him with rage. He knew that he should have killed her when he had the chance! That girl was nothing but trouble!

"Yes." Shino's calm voice rumbled beneath the rain. That was all he could say. Falling into the mud must have been unexpected, otherwise the bug would have had time to get out of the way. She would have escaped trapping herself in the mud if possible. "But she's fine."

"Sakura-san's okay? How do you know?" Lee was too dejected to be enthusiastic. But he was still curious about it. He was still hopeful. Shino knew that Sakura was okay. That meant he had another way to find her, right?

"I meant the bug," he said, unwavered by Lee's words–and the obvious expectations he was crushing–as he walked to a rain puddle and gently washed the mud from the bug's legs. The female insect flipped itself onto his hand before scurrying beneath his skin.

'_Chikusho! He always means the bugs!'_ Kiba thought unenthusiastically.

"G-gomen..." Hinata said again, bowing her head dejectedly at their failed mission. "It's...it's because I..."

"No, Hinata!" Kiba shouted as he sensed her next words. "It's the rain! If it didn't rain, Akamaru and I could sniff her out!"

But Neji wasn't as kind. "You should have been strong enough to defend against a girl with only elementary control of her chakra," he said coldly. Hinata's defeat–especially a defeat like this–was unforgivable. As the next leader of the Hyuuga clan, Hinata should be stronger! "And she threw you into a sea of chakra-eating insects!"

"That wasn't her fault!" Kiba shouted angrily. "Hinata tried her best!" There was nothing they could do about Sakura's actions.

"Sakura-san..." Lee sighed as he finally realized that he wasn't going to see Sakura again. They had truly lost her.

"Stop moping, Lee!" Tenten shouted from Kurenai's side, annoyed as much as Neji was. He was always moping over Sakura, and she was tired of dealing with his outrageous behaviour. They had more than enough chances to catch her, and Lee had ruined most of them with his overzealous actions.

"I'm not moping," Lee insisted as he straightened, forcing a strained beat into his voice. If he didn't cheer up, Tenten was going to hurt him again. "I'm training!" He turned and ran into the trees. "Three hundred laps around Tanzaku Gai!"

"Yosh! Lee! I'll run with you!" Gai shouted as he ran after his student.

Tenten could only sigh defeatedly. She should have known this was coming. Lee must have made a stupid rule about this mission, like he did with every mission. Three hundred laps around Tanzaku Gai if he didn't bring Sakura home, or something like that. _'At least it's not five hundred.'_ Three hundred laps should only take a few hours at most. Lee was as tired as the rest of them. There was no telling how long it would take before they could go home.

"I guess I can send some of these insects home," Shino said as he glanced at the black bugs hovering nearby. They were listening, waiting for his instructions. Sakura was gone. Did he still need them? "You can leave now." And the swarming sea evaporated into the grass.

"Gomen nasai. Gomen nasai," Hinata apologized to the bugs as they sank away. She knew she wasn't light. Some of them carried broken and missing legs. Some of them had cracked bodies. And some of them still lay on the streets of Tanzaku Gai, their bodies crushed to the point of immobility. "Gomen nasai!"

"They can't hear you," Shino said as he turned to the town. "Hinata, they're already gone. We should probably return to Konoha and tell Hokage-sama about our mission."

Hinata nodded as she followed her teammates and her sensei back to Tanzaku Gai. Tenten and Neji had to wait for Lee, but Kurenai was obviously tired of Gai and Shino wanted to leave; Kiba didn't look opposed to it either. Even as she looked apologetically back to her cousin, she had to follow them.

"She's not going to be happy," Kurenai said as she imagined their report's arrival in Konoha. "How about we send a letter?" She didn't want to hear the yelling when the Hokage found out. All of Kakashi's team had vanished from the village. It wasn't going to be easy to comfort him after this. The man's life was a living tragedy.

And Tsunade was definitely going to yell.

**K**abuto walked absentmindedly through the halls of the empty underground compound. No one but he was there. Orochimaru was moving to a new location again to escape Akatsuki's spies, and he was thinking of coming to this compound next. Kabuto was only here to make sure it was safe to come to this place, that the walls weren't crumbling and there weren't hunter-nin staking out the infinite number of empty rooms. There was the sense of danger, knowing that someone could be hiding in ambush, but it was still a mediocre task. The maze of tunnels ran in all directions for endless distances. He would have appreciated some help.

But there was no one. He had to do it all on his own. Orochimaru didn't trust his safety to pawns.

The grey-haired Oto-nin stopped, his tired body sighing lightly to the sound of a heavy rustling. "Who's there?" Kabuto shouted as soon as the foreign fabric sounded in his ears, his hands rising with bright blue gloves of chakra.

"He's not here," the cloaked figure said, standing calmly in the middle of the hall as if Kabuto was nothing but a weak genin. "I looked."

Kabuto's mind numbed helplessly at the voice. _'Haruno Sakura?'_ Those words... She could only be referring to one person. And his constricted brain, still scarred by the memory of Sasuke, couldn't imagine why she would want to see Orochimaru.

"Take me to him." Her voice didn't even waiver. Its determination stifled him. "I'll find him eventually." Determination, and hatred.

Kabuto nodded slowly, uncertainly. Her overbearing presence, her heavy hatred pressed on him as surely as Sasuke's did when he was still around. The spectacled-nin couldn't stop himself. "He's not here," was all he could say, even though she had already said it. She already knew that Orochimaru wasn't there.

At that moment, he really wanted to leave that confined tunnel.

The candlelight revealed her only as a grim spectre, as if a ghost had risen to haunt him. "I'll–" His voice croaked in his throat before he banished it. "This way!" He turned reluctantly, as if even by turning, she would stab him in the back and toss his useless corpse away.

But there was no kunai in her hands. She wanted to see Orochimaru. She wanted to meet Orochimaru. Finally. Because, even though she knew his name, and she knew his face, they never had a formal introduction.

Then, she would slowly kill him.

**End Epilogue**

**End Wait for Me: Aku no Yami**

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**_Go to WAIT FOR ME: FOLLOWING, or if you've read Wait for Me: Following, go to WAIT FOR ME: SEARCHING to continue the series._**

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Fire's babbling:

Fire: That's it! There's no more! If you want to know if Sakura kills Orochimaru, go to _Wait for Me: Following._

Sasuke: Didn't you advertise enough!

Kisame: What do you expect?

Naruto: (nodding) I agree.

Fire: Now send in your reviews!

Kisame: Are you ordering the readers?

Fire: It's the last instalment of Aku no Yami! They should at least say something before they leave! Don't they have opinions!

Kisame: No.

Fire: Don't they have brains!

Kisame: …

Sasuke: Are you insulting the readers now?

Fire: Waah! No! I just want to know your opinions, minna-sama! Send me your opinions!

Kisame: Now, I'm taking Fire away. Read our crazy thoughts in the next story. (grabs Fire and runs away)

Sasuke: Sayonara.

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End file.
